Oops missed a year

Well, that's a year missed out since there was any work on MegaGarden, lets get the gardening fleeces on and get the hammers out. The pile of stone in the front is pretty much all we have left to use up. The red stone in the back is from the fireplace and next to it are some unused mushroom logs, but more about them later...



Tighten up the guidelines, I think we're just going to work up to here and then get the coping on. The front face only needs one course but the side is a bit wonky and will need 2-3 courses to get up to height. Not sure how we got so far out of wack but at least the end is nigh.



Nick whips through with some super-fast precision walling as usual. I was shocked at how much progress we made, could have been something to do with not stopping for a 3-hour full English break like we used to.



On Saturday I had a bit of a play with my Christmas present from Nick. He'd got me a few bags of mycelleum impregnated wooden dowels, that i've had in the fridge since December. The second part of the present was a boot-full of freshly-cut birch logs which got the chop on Wednesday. Working for Trafford council has its perks, when you can pick the trees to be removed that aren't quite right for that park (and need a new home all full o' mushies). I had to drill about 30 holes in each log, knock the dowels in, and then seal them all with sizzlin' mushroom wax.



I've got Oyster, Shiitake and Lion's Mane logs all plugged up and waxed - next thing to do is cover them in black bin bags and either bury them or leave them in the shade (behind my dad's shed). All you have to do then is wait 18 months for the fungus to spread throughout the log, then you leave it out for another year and hopefully the critters will sprout. This is not a hobby for the impatient.



I couldn't help feeling that it looked a bit dodgy to be loading up a red Golf with limb-sized, bin-bag covered packages. Hopefully my mum won't get stopped by Operation Ringmaster on the way home.

The end of MegaGarden 08?

Looks like this could be the last weekend of work before winter sets in, we're nearly there and the house needs a lot of work inside to get it cozy in time for Christmas. We're down to the last few stones including a lot of awkward ones that need using up, so this last bit is looking a bit of a mess.



I couldn't find any decent through stones for my wall end - this floppy one was okay but not great. I'm still not too sure what i'm going to do between this wall end and the back wall (using next door's shed as an inbetween). I think i'm going to make some sort of lean-to / woodpile to store the fuel for my next project - INGLENOOK



Swapped the through but i'm still not 100% happy with it (or even 50% happy). Nick is doing an amazing job at the front end though.



And that's all we've got left - probably less than half a ton out of the original 6 tons. That precarious tower of concrete and brick is earmarked to be used for my troglodyte outdoor pizza oven which will be an integral part of the goings-on up here next summer.

A Little to the Right

The clocks went back this morning, I spent an extra hour in bed dreaming about finishing this right hand mini-wall. I finished the edge of the steps first of all.



Even though we're down to the last few stones, we're still managing to pull out a few magic shapes. I was leaning over the wooden stairs to take this, so 1 second after I took the photo my feet whizzed from under me on the slime, giving me a massive horizontal bruise right across my body off the handrail. Not had a good winding for years - ooooffff.



Got about 8 inches to go to get it to ground level. The camera ran out of batteries at this point - i'll have to take a photo in the week of the next exciting course taking shape.

The Holder of the Boulder

Nick came up again today, I was a bit intimidated by starting all over again with the corner wall and I needed some motivation. We're getting down to the last stones now, so there's not as much choice as when we first started but they need using up even if they are very wonky.



At one point when we were shovelling soil and rubble down to backfill the gap between the wall and concrete, I pulled out a grimy piece of plastic which immediately flashed me back in time to the happy days of 1980. Even my mum recognised what it was straight away.



I knew Nick would get things whipping along - I wish the days weren't so short because we could have got this finished in a few more hours. Hopefully if the rain's not too bad tomorrow I will get stuck in with Zo.

Rubble Reduction

I figured out that I had overestimated the amount of rubble we were going to need to level the ground. This 2-ton pile of concrete, brick and dirty dust that's been sat there since we wrecked the inglenook in spring was going to have to go to the tip.



Sorting out the big bits to bag up, we'll leave the finest dust behind but I think we need to shift about 3/4 of it.



This was parked up next to the rubble skip, I took the photo for Jim.



8 round trips and I reckon nearly 100 back-breaking bags later, it's time to spread out the remaining gravel. My back is breaking but I can see the finish line now.



Yes! There's ground level. Unfortunately now I can see the back wall it has reminded me that it is about to collapse and is going to need to be rebuilt. Not this year though.



Finally got all our remaining stone lined up neatly, sorted into shape ready to use - the remaining work is going to be a joy.



Looking at that is really relaxing me. Ahhh

Adam Attack

After 4 months of mithering, Adam made it down today and it turns out he is born with a natural gift for this walling biz. Zo gave him the rules of the game and we left him to it...



A couple of hours later there was 6 feet of rock solid, level, deluxe walling. He does like to do a good job.



Remember that dodgy bit that I promised to fix for Stuart last episode? Adam scooped it out and replaced it all with new stones, totally locked.

Whaley Walling Weekend 2

We kind of overdid it on the beer-reward yesterday so we are all feeling a bit tired today. Luckily the weather is amazing and Stu and Sal are ripping through at great speed again in no time.



Stu has nearly completed another course. I was supposed to be giving him a hand with that gap on the left but I got sidetracked. I've still not fixed it.



When we raised the string for Stuart's next course I measured it and there are only 9 inches left to go. We have begun to worry that there won't actually be enough stone to finish it.



Another meticulous job from Sal, straight as an arrow.



Back to my personal nightmare, I don't know if this is cheating or whether it is part of the tradition of using whatever materials are to hand but I had a few concrete paving slabs that needed using up. I hope they are okay to build on top of.



Zo was working from the wall out to meet Sal in the middle, she was working super-fast as well, i'm lucky to have a gang of such amazing craftsmen.



Zoe reached the bus! This is going to be the eventual height of the wall, we've not decided on the coping yet - I don't know whether we will have any decent stone left by the time we get to the top, so might have to get some more from the quarry.



I got a couple of pieces in on my wall-end by the end of the day, i've got quite a way to go but it's an alright start and I feel a bit more positive about it than I did yesterday morning when I started.