My Astro Pics

October 16th continued
While I had been working on my paving, my neighbour had been digging out more of the tree roots, preparing to fell it. It was actually two trunks intertwined, one of which was already dead. It was already loose in the ground, so I suggested trying a rope around it and just pulling it down. After a few good tugs on the rope, the tree started moving and once we got it rocking, it wasn't going to stay standing long. A few more good pulls on the rope and down it came. Never felled a tree by just pulling it over before! With the tree on the ground, out came my chainsaw and it was cut up into managable chunks with little effort. Many of the branches were hollow or dead and brittle. The pieces were piled up along the wall, out of the way for now and the concrete rubble bagged up as hardcore for other garden projects.
October 18th & 22nd
	The last strip of foundations by the railway, were completed on the 18th. Then there was a brief intermission on the work, to allow storm Babet to do its thing. On the 22nd, the ground had dried up and the weather was dry, allowing me to add the next four paving slabs. The last slab wasn't laid, as that was where mix cement mixer was located. That slab also needs cutting, so figured it would be easier to work there after the current four slabs have set.
October 23rd
	The final paving stone was cut and laid on the 23rd of October, along with a 10 inch tall slab cut and fitted vertically to end the path and hold back the earth and gravel behind. Poor weather is delaying further work right now, but the next stage will be to clear out the rubbish behind the garage. When that's done, I can rake out all the dead plant matter, prior to starting to dig out in preparation for the garage path foundations.
October 26th ~ November 5th
	From late October to early November, I was working on the path behind the garage. There was a lot of earth to dig out, around two and a half 850Kg bulk bags worth. Foundations were prepared, paving laid and repeat. The area of the last three slabs was tarmac covered hardcore. It wasn't flat and was a bit too high, so I took an inch or so off the top by slicing it with the diamond cutter and breaking it out with a hammer and chisel.

	The last stretch took two full paving slabs and a twelve inch cut slab, which were laid on November 5th. At some point, I need to build a low retaining wall next to the path behind the garage, due to the ground height along side the path. I also want to make a gutter along the rest of the path, down to a soakaway at the bottom by the railway. That's not a priority right now.

	I'm planning to add a six feet tall fence, next to the garage door, blocking the path access from the front for better security. I also need a low fence to fill the gap in the fence, currently filled with a shipping pallet. We're well into the Autumn/Winter weather now, so my next priorty, as the weather allows, is the rebuilding of the garden wall, damaged by the tree.