BRIDGES AND STEPPING STONES

Phew! Gardening hard whilst I can. R is still raking the bankings to get rid of the dead grass. I got out weedkiller (sorry not organic but . . ) and had a go at the giant marsh thistles in the lawn and brambles on the wood.

Yesterday I repaired or replaced the small bridges over the stream - with sawn off pieces of old scaffolding planks.

This released eight large flattish stones for something.

After a night's thought I decided to make a line of stepping stones in the lawn from the bottom of the zigzag path to the gravelled veg. bed path.

The reason is that the lawn there and around the Bramley apple had become very boggy.

Time for an explore.

The garden is on a steep bank over rock where the field falls to a lower level. Water runs underground and emerges in ever new places. Last year, in the wood there was a mole hill, which I cleared away. On looking into the hole left I could see running water heading down to the lawn.

When I went into the wood to look at the minor stream which comes from a spring in the field it disappeared into a sump hole halfway down its length. Obviously it was emerging by the apple tree.

So I blocked up the hole in the bottom of the stream and hope that that will dry out the garden lower down.

Apart from that it was shifting more horse muck. The muck from the bottom of the heap moved into the garden more than four years ago still smells very strongly.

So do I after all that so off for a shower and a cup of tea.