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November 28th |
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December 6th & January
12th |
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Early
morning, on December the 6th, a BMW skidded on ice and demolished our
front wall and snapped the telegraph pole! It wasn't until late February
that repairs were completed under the car owner's insurance.
Unfortunately, the builders couldn't find any bricks that were a good
match to the 55 year old existing bricks.
With the cold weather
arriving, I moved inside and made a wooden frame with a mesh infill to
keep the butterflies off the veggies. Everyone warned us about slugs,
but nobody said anything about butterflies! On the 28th of January, I also started decorating
the hallway ( it is now the 10th of April and this is finally almost
finished ). |
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April 1st ~ 7th I was out in my Jeep on the 6th, then on the 7th, Lynne and I spent a couple of hours planting along the hawthorn. The plants were spaced, based on their predicted spread and they only got us 60 feet along the hedge, starting at the railway! I've also planted a load of seeds in seed trays to continue this area. After those were all planted,
we moved up to the area near the kitchen. We're going to extend the
patio by about two paving stones, as it gets a bit crowded with a few
people up there. As a result, several plants would be lost under the new
patio. Several of them were idea candidates for the railway embankment.
They were Lady's Mantle, Water Avens and Purple Rock cress. I also dug
up some Forget-me-not from the edge of the lawn. They were carefully dug
out and spread around the front edge of the railway. I need several more
plants to fill this area, but it's going to take a while for the plants
to establish themselves and spread out to fill the area. |
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April 13th On the 13th, we had another push on the railway embankment. After dropping my daughter off to see some friends, Lynne and I continued to a garden centre and splashed out on more plants, compost and some small garden tools. By the time we got back home, it was lunch time, but after a quick bite to eat, we were out working at the railway. The first job was to dig more sand and compost into the embankment, to break up the clay soil. |
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With that done, the exciting bit, planting. We couldn't get all the plants I'd picked out two weeks ago, so had to get some alternatives, but it all worked out. Obviously they need to grow and fill out the area properly, so it still looks a bit thin for now. All around the back of the planted area, we sowed wildflower seeds, to form a backdrop to the rest. We also bought five more spreading plants, to continue the plants along the hawthorn hedge, up to the garage. That's thirty four along seventy feet of hedge. |  |
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The pictures below show the completed embankment, one with all the plants identified. We are still looking for some more Purple Rock Cress, to make a more solid boundary between the plants and the ballast. Other than that, for now, the planting is done and we need to wait and let everything grow and spread. Next year, we can take another look and see if anything died and whether there are still spaces that could do with filling. There's one chair screw left to
fit on the rear sleeper - the "Golden Spike" to complete the
railway. I need to drill the sleeper for this, then the family will all
take turns on the two feet stilson wrench, to complete the railway! I'm
looking forwards to the Summer, leaning on my crossing gate, with a cold drink in my hand, watching the buzzy things going mental around all the flowers!! |
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