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A bit of a project

Sheal

Well-known member
You may remember I moved house to a village location late July last year (2024) and once settled started on this project below. It's a small garden so I need to make use of every inch. The idea was to remove the wood shed and extend the bed to link with the back garden including space for the little 'dalek' type composter.

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The space between the garden and bungalow walls is only 8ft. I'd started to extend the bed to where the composter sits below, then had a change of mind as I didn't like the composter so close to the bungalow.

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To move the composter I had to prepare the ground at the far end of the bed to accommodate it and a future small greenhouse. Having moved the arbour ready for dismantling (it was rotting) I then lifted the slabs and moved those 2 1/2 ft towards the shed, bringing them level with the edge of the raised lawn. I turned them over in the process, clean side uppermost. I try to recycle wherever possible in the garden.

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The job done and composter re-sited it's almost ready for a greenhouse, but I won't invest in that until next year as there's other things that need to be done in the garden, including reorganising the side bed between bungalow and garden wall. Meanwhile, I dropped the second but last slab and broke the corner off, typical! So I will replace that with another from elsewhere in the garden and at the same time lift the others and relay them as they're not quite level.

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The main shed needs refurbishing and roof re-felting so it has a temporary hat. That will have to wait until the weather improves. The smaller shed I've sold already but won't be removed until Spring. It currently holds my lawnmower and electric scarifier and having cleared the main shed of various unnecessary units, that will become home to those.

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It's all come to a halt for the time being. During the process of dismantling the arbour I tripped and fell, my knee landing awkwardly on a piece of wood. I'm currently on crutches and x-ray shows nothing broken but I have up to a six week wait for it to heal. Any ideas for someone currently going stir crazy would be welcome please. :)
 
😮 That sounds like a very nasty fall !! At least you hadn't broken anything !! Apart from reading about, planning your garden and seed starting, I can't really suggest any stir-crazy-proof activities for you. I always use Emu Oil on bruises and strains. Perhaps that would get you back on your feet a bit faster, but don't baby it too much.

I brought a horse back to racing in 30 days after he bowed both front tendons by keeping him moving. Too much inactivity really doesn't help healing; healing requires blood to circulate so those white bloodcells can remove the damaged tissue.
 
@Sheal that's terrible, 7 years ago i broke my knee and had a full leg plaster for 6 weeks, then i had a knee brace to stop me from bending it too much and had it adjusted once a week so that i could bend it a bit more.

Watch a lot of YouTube videos, I've got 2 games that i play on there, don't have to download them, just play them on YouTube.
 
Thank you everyone for your caring words. :)

I've been in this situation before. I did exactly the same to the same knee 20+ years ago and two years after that (same leg) shattered my ankle and broke a bone below the knee. That put me completely out of action for nine months as I wasn't allowed to make contact with the ground for the first three. So thanks Annie, I think I've got the gist of physio recovery now. :D

Although I won't be able to carry on with the heavy work outside for a while, hopefully in a few days I'll be able to get some more pruning done. Meanwhile I'll potter around indoors.

I've just looked back at the pics above. Scarifying the lawn isn't too far away with a lot of moss to be dealt with.
 
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Sheal, I love that stone wall !!

Thanks @Jersey Devil. :) I believe it's about 200 years old. It surrounded the original house and garden which still exist. The owner split the long garden in half and built the modern bungalow I now live in for himself. There is now a fence separating the two but the walls still exist on three sides.

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A lot of the wall is 'dry' stone, but I think some has been mortared during the course of time to keep it upright as it's 6ft high. I only hope it stays upright until I'm long gone as stone masons/wallers come with a heavy price tag now. The front wall above was partially removed to create an entrance for the drive. I believe they have stone footings as with most walls and buildings. @Zigs having experience will probably be able to answer that for you.

Many years ago, a lovely old Welsh guy by the name off Olwyn once showed me how to buld this kind of wall.

It's something I'd love to be able to do properly. I attempted to re-build a low stone wall at my last garden but gave up, instead having a fence and gates built as the cattle owned by a local crofter demolished it each time they were herded along the road.
 
Sorry, I missed a few posts there 😬

Yep, done quite a bit of dry stone walling in Wales and the West Country (even built one in Turkey 😬)

The only footings i've put in for them were also dry stone (without any mortar) by building below ground level in a trench.

I've got some pics of one I did a while back somewhere but I'll have to have a look for them 🙂
 
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