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Anyone done any gardening today? Part 5

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  • WibbleWibble Posts: 89
    Thanks for the tips @BobTheGardenerand @Ferdinand2000.

    I did consider a cement mixer (tbh I've wanted to play with one since I was a child!) ,but decided it wasn't really a worthwhile investment for the scale of jobs needing done. The bucket I'm using to mix is actually quite a big rubber trug, not a normal 5gallon bucket so I can get a coal shovel sized implement in. I find it easier to use a short handled thing for this sort of work as dodgy shoulders make welding a full length shovel harder for me. Good exercise anyway!
  • GWRSGWRS Posts: 8,478
    @Ferdinand2000 , definitely counts as gardening 👍
  • Hi all slight gardening/building issue needing any help to how I could solve this

    My chicken house and run at allotment plot, I got a run to build and add to the coop I had

    This is the run I built and part added to coop, Have added a lot of bricks under the run edge, dug out to put bricks in

    Looked ok but then next day - this happened......
    I know in the lower part of the picture really far down in ground I found what looked like a metal water drum - could not get it out of the ground, but not flooded like this before
    Really wet in run area and outside of it
    Now what/how do I solve this issue?

    Have moved - coop and run, will try get up the cover over polytunnel, the run has small cover on for my chickens


    This is the area left now - water has drained away but still rather boggy area muddy soil

    Paving and blocks not too different in height level, even though higher ground other side soil area

    Any advise/ help please 

    say you were building a greenhouse base to stand your greenhouse on or something like that as I can't figure it out
    Hampshire Gardener
  • WilderbeastWilderbeast Posts: 1,415
    @Gardengirl.. looks like you've dug down to create a level area making a sump area for water to run off into. If I was to put a building in a garden or anywhere  (any building at all for that matter) I'd build up to to create a raised area rather then down 
  • @Wilderbeast get what you are saying did not think about it when was doing it last week - so you think I need to try and build it all back up? -  what sort of thing is good to keep the soil from falling on the paving slabs?
    paving slab to the left side of the last picture around other chicken coop with run
    Hampshire Gardener
  • GWRSGWRS Posts: 8,478
    @Gardengirl.. another idea could be a soak away , I did that once in a garden ie dug a big hole and fill it with broken bricks 🧱/ rubble and it did work 
    Best of luck 
  • WilderbeastWilderbeast Posts: 1,415
    @Gardengirl.. you could put pavers on there edge, dig a trench along the paving edge put in some dryish cement drop the pavers in on there edge tap down level and back fill with more cement. I'd fill the hole with hardcore ( brick rubble is fine) make level with sharp sand and lay the pavers over. Despite being a builder I try to keep my use of concrete/cement to a minimum as it just makes altering things on the future harder work.
  • Ferdinand2000Ferdinand2000 Posts: 537
    edited December 2020
    @Gardengirl.. you could put pavers on there edge, dig a trench along the paving edge put in some dryish cement drop the pavers in on there edge tap down level and back fill with more cement. I'd fill the hole with hardcore ( brick rubble is fine) make level with sharp sand and lay the pavers over. Despite being a builder I try to keep my use of concrete/cement to a minimum as it just makes altering things on the future harder work.
    I'd go a bit further than that, @Gardengirl.. and turn that trench into a modest French Drain with a small soakaway at the end. 

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_drain
    “Rivers know this ... we will get there in the end.”
  • WibbleWibble Posts: 89

    Greenhouse in situ. This is a second hand greenhouse I bought a few years ago. It was actually in this spot, just set on the ground on the flat concrete bit that was there when we moved here.

    Unfortunately said concrete isn't quite big enough, so there was a mucky bit at the back , and rainwater flows right to left from the yard just out of shot to the right, so it was always soaking wet.

    Next step will be to replace the polycarbonate panels as they weren't in brilliant nick when I bought it, and they're worse now -very foggy despite a good scrub, and some are cracked. Need all the light I can get, as unfortunately this is the only place I can squeeze in a small greenhouse, and obviously having a wall behind and oil tank to one side isn't ideal. I'll see about whitening the wall when I shift it again to replace the glazing. Fortunately it is so lightweight that one person can easily move it around alone.

    Inside is my new bench, built from an old desk, some old decking boards, and done new quality construction timber that OH got me for Xmas. Amazing what we garden types think us a great gift, eh?!🤣


  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    You may want to try Barkeeper's Friend (the powder variety) on the panels as it has a mild abrasive as well. It's great around the house anyway if it doesn't improve the panels.
    (Not advertising as such https://www.lakeland.co.uk/8868/Bar-Keepers-Friend-Stain-Remover-300g - they sell it in our Sainsbury's and Robert Dyas as well)


    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
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