It takes two

I love it when a plan comes together! Here it is... our sculpture, finally in place in the middle of the future herb garden.

The armillery sphere was made by a metal sculptor who lives in the Perth hills. We bought it years ago, and it's moved house with us multiple times now... so we know just how hard it is to move the thing! One neighbour is constantly worried everything is going to get 'nicked'. She came over on the weekend to tell us it would get nicked from our front yard. I tried to tell her it weighs a tonne... It takes two of us, a lot of groaning, perhaps some swearing and sometimes even tears to struggle it into position. So if it IS going to be 'nicked' it's going to take someone a lot of trouble. If you don't hold it in the exact right place, it swings around and that pointy arrow at the top there... that hits you in the head! The same neighbour is also worried about our flamingo and a giant terracotta pig that must weigh 120kgs! The pig is also needs a team of two to move. (The pig is having a makeover this summer... he's going to be painted a bright, glossy colour, I'm just not sure what colour to go with... red, fuchsia pink, yellow, orange??? If you have any ideas, let me know!!)

Down and dirty

At last I don't have to sit back with a g&t and watch other people play in my garden... I got to get down and dirty! The soil was delivered on Friday. Beautiful, rich, organic soil that even had the neighbours crossing the road to ask where it was from. Of course the excitement of soil quickly waned as the 4m3 appeared to take on the characteristics of the Magic Pudding... no matter how much I shovelled, the hill didn't get any smaller. Maybe I over-estimated the amount I needed? This soil is allegedly so good I am not allowed to add anything to it for at least six months. My vegetables would be bursting out of the ground in weeks from now. I'll keep you posted about that.

 

 Then came the fun of laying the reticulation lines. I had the contractors lay the mainline and connect it to the automated reticulation system, but wanted to lay the brown dripline myself, because I know where I want it to go, and it's easier to do it myself than to explain. I had a lovely experience at the irrigation shop. I walked in and was served by a man with L-O-V-E and H-A-T-E tattooed on his knuckles. He was very sweet, extremely helpful and gave me a nice discount because I was a 'lovely lady'... even when I came back a second time because I had UNDER-estimated how much I would need. Despite what you may be thinking... for a journalist, math IS actually a strong point of mine. I must have been having an off week. Or maybe I should just get my engineer hubby to do the math for me in future!

 

 Anyway, we got the retic in as well as the soil. Some days when the sun is shining, it's not too hot and your shoes sound like maracas as you walk because there's so much sand floating around in them and your fingernails are black with dirt, it seems such a shame to have to clean yourself up and go to work.  *sigh* My 'sand shoes' are sitting by the front door waiting for me to head back out and finish the job soon. For now... it's off to my day job. 

Then there was light

The lights look fantastic!

A little bit indulgent, perhaps, having lights in a food garden, but it is in the front yard. And it means that we don't have to go out in the dark if we're cooking and search around with a torch, looking suspicious.

Almost there

I'm busting to get some soil into these garden beds!!!

Now we're awaiting reticulation and lights!

Following the red brick road...

Today I've made a pain of myself. But I'm glad I was at home to do so. The paving went in so fast, these guys are machines!

 

 

 

Then the edges started going in and I was getting a bit edgy myself. I know my plan was thrown out by a metre due to forces beyond my control... but when the edging went in I realised my garden beds were going to be a lot narrower than I had planned!

 

That's when I started making a pain of myself... asking if the paving could be made narrower so the beds were wider. The men were very helpful and before I knew it, it was all changed and I got my extra centimetres here and there. I was afraid the armillery sphere, which is going in the centre bed as a feature, would be wider than the bed.

 

 

So they've made the bed above wider too. It is odd when you think you know what something is going to look like, then it turns out different. I was a bit nervous about asking for changes on the fly... but I figured it was better to ask now before any mortar went in! And they were very nice about it!

 

The earth moved!

The earth moving men have put down conduit for the electrics and back-filled the yard with sand, so it's all ready to be paved tomorrow!

Chilli and Mustard escaped to help out. They saw dirt and thought they'd like to be a part of it. Trying to haul two beagles at 15kgs each back inside when they just want to snuffle is no easy task. The earth movers learnt some new skills that day. How to wrangle beagles.



I liked their earth-moving dingo so much, I wanted one of my own. I could have fun with one of those!!! At least I could use it to move the beagles around.

Ever feel like you're being watched?

Mustard has decided he is the unofficial site manager of the project. He likes to sit and supervise from the sunny spot by the front door. He listens to Dave and Russ singing along to their easy listening radio station and occasionally barks directions at them. Probably when they've stopped for a bite to eat. And only because he wants to eat something too.

 



Today Chilli and Mustard conducted a survey of the works. They did this by sniffing every square inch of the site, until they found and ate a leftover piece of sandwich one of the men had left behind.

Taking shape



Progress!! The gentlemen tell me they probably only need one and a half, maybe two more days to finish the limestone edging, paving and garden beds. How exciting! After they complete the final touches to retaining walls and the step over the weekend, the team will come back and fill the area back up with soil early next week.

 

Then they will put down the paving and the edges to my future garden beds.

 

 

 

My step up to the fruit tree/asparagus area (below) is taking shape. It's looking even better than I had imagined.

 

 

In glorious 18C sunshine, it's been lovely to work outdoors, they tell me. As for me, I enjoyed the sunshine with lunch and a magazine in the backyard. Soon I will be in the food garden, working in the sunshine and growing lunch.

Another Brick in the Wall

The rain has abated for the day and Dave and Russ were back fulfilling my fantasies... of having a landscaped front yard, of course!

I asked them today how much each one of those blocks weighs. 84kgs. Then, just to prove his worth, Dave lifted one up for me. Very briefly. It actually takes the two of them to lift each block into place. Luckily for them, the retaining wall isn't going to be six-foot high.

Here's the progress from today. That's the finished height of the wall at the back there, but it will be filled in with the piles of sand you can see on the verge.

I'm hoping there will be even more to show tomorrow. I've checked the weather bureau site and it's looking fine.

Frickin' Laser Beam

Here's a piece of equipment that impressed me! Just over a week ago our yard sloped in two directions. My simple view of how to fix it was 'why don't we move the soil from the high side to the low side to make it level?' seems simple, right?

Now they have removed 12 cubic metres of soil to level the yard so I don't need a retaining wall the size if my house, I can accept that maybe I was wrong!

Here's Adrian with his frickin' laser beam measuring the height differences in our yard. Incredible! It made things so much easier to visualise.