Wednesday 28 January 2009

One slip and you're in the........

Posted by Simon

......Quagmire. Yes I should have i) read my own blog - re area being a quagmire - and ii) known better. I had nearly finished the back-filling and compacting the soil down. Running the digger over the area had made it very boggy but I decided to give it that one last go. One side of the digger suddenly lurched with a downwards motion and was then sinking into the mud. One of the support/upright sleepers was not into the ground as deep as I would have liked, due to a huge root, and gave way. Fortunately the rest of the sleepers held but whilst I pulled the digger out they did move. As it was nearly dark by now I could not see the extend of the damage and was hoping I could pull it all back over and re-strengthen it.

So yesterday morning I spent a few moments seeing if I could make the necessary repairs but overall things were worse then I thought. So after a lot of pondering I decided that a major rebuild was required. I was a little disappointed because it had been lot of hard work and, also, a little annoyed with myself.

However I decided it was, also, a blessing in disguise. In hindsight I should have not used the old sleepers for the supports/uprights. So yesterday I spent the day digging out the soil and removing the sleepers. I have now been re-building, using the new sleepers for the uprights plus putting these in much deeper (once bitten twice shy?). I am much happier with the results and, although this has been extremely heavy work, will result in a much better job. As you can see from the photo I have had to use sleepers to run the digger over otherwise it gets bogged down and sinks. I do not want to slide into the neighbouring field

This morning I knew I had to start digging out the hole with the root in it. By chance the chainsaw had an old chain on it so I did not mind it being used on the root. Even so I had to sharpen it three times to get through the root due to embedded stones and soil. Not the best use for a chainsaw but eventually I cut the root out. I can now dig this hole to the correct depth, but due to very heavy rain work has stopped. Oh well, I'll tidy the workshop instead.

4 comments :

  1. oops. still at least you were not hurt... these things happen..

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  2. oh no poor you! I hate having to redo things. but like colouritgreen said at least you arent hurt.

    Just popperd over after reading Lucys blog and the post on blueberries. In case you dont see my comment I will bring it to you blog! Se below

    add acidic matter to the plants every other year. I think that is what the allotment man said. Orange peel, used as mulch. he gave me his plants as he found out he had something wrong with his stomach storing seeds, in the lining? Sounds mad, but true... apparently it hurts like hell.

    I also water them with tea dregs from the pot. Ferns love tea also.

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  3. Simon is going great guns with the rebuilding and reckons he is half way through - or should that actually be 3/4 of the way through?!

    SoL - thanks for the tip about blueberries. I'll start saving orange peel for a mulch. So now I have containers for collecting: doggy left-overs, chicken scraps, compost AND blueberry food .... and when we get pigs again that'll be another bucket!!

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  4. Great to see some progress since our visit last year! Don't fancy working in these conditions though...

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