Teetering on the brink

EatingBeans

Yep, totally agree with the use of sticks to fill up the bottom of raised beds - unfortunately I don't have many as my dogs like to shred them into tiny pieces. I might have some cardboard to throw in but I am going to need quite a bit to use for making templates for the van. What I do have is gravel! lol Lots and lots of the stuff. 😞 Technically I should avoid using it but honestly I am going to do it anyway as it will clear the space where I eventually want a greenhouse.

First job though it more painting of the raised beds. They are already heat treated so the painting is for cosmetic purposes on the outside rather than protecting the wood from the soil, but it still takes time and energy to do! It is going to be a glorious day weather wise so I just need to grab some breakfast and coffee and crack on but my gosh do i already ache all over. It will be worth it. Just need to push through!

EatingBeans

Well, the raised beds have now had two coats of paint, the ground levelled and all the pieces slotted together to make the raised beds. So far they are still empty as I have been working on the ground around and between them to ensure I end up with everything at the correct level but we are getting there. The dogs seem to think they are some kind of obstacle course and have be rather impressively jumping in and out of them without even touching the sides. Watching them just jump from a static position over such high sides is all very amusing (I am certain none of my previous labs would have been able to spring like that), but it does not bode well for my plants! I can see lots of training is going to be in order!

Another positive of all this work on the garden is that I have not had a chance to spend any money. 😁 Plus I sold another top on Vinted which is definitely motivating me to list more. 👍

EatingBeans

Ok, I know leaving my current job is a good idea because it is Monday morning and I don’t go back to work until tomorrow but I feel sick just thinking about it. Totally ridiculous because I only have to work two days again this week but the stress it is causing me cannot be good for my health. So glad I got the ok for the leavers scheme, clearly time to move on.

Cherryfudge

Definitely time to move on, other people could do the job (maybe not as well as you but still, they could) and only you can be you and do all the other things that involves.

EatingBeans

Thanks @Cherryfudge honestly for me I think the most telling thing is I no longer care if the job gets done. My love of the job was very much tied to the people I worked with and 90% of the good ones have now left. That’s not to say that the people who have since joined are bad people but the great team atmosphere has been lost and now everyone seems overworked and unhappy. Time to be grateful for the team I had, accept that that is now a thing of the past and try and find another team. In the meantime I am just counting down the days. ⏰

To take my mind off it today, I decided to go back to the garden and make a bit more progress. I still couldn’t bring myself to start filling the beds (that seemed too much like hard work today), so instead I settled for levelling the path (which ironically still meant shovelling gravel), and then laid down the membrane ready for, you guessed it, more gravel to go on top! 🤦‍♀️ It was a job that needed doing and will give the area a much more finished off look once I have finished but I am literally running out of things to do before filling the beds. 😬 That’s now a job for Thursday as the neighbour has come out with a whole bunch of friends to enjoy the sunshine and I find it grates on my nerves when I try and garden with them around - literally the opposite of what gardening should do. So inside I go, and housework it is. 😁

EatingBeans

No gravel shovelling for me today. I did try to go outside given how sunny it was but sadly far too windy so I’ve stayed inside and learnt how to use Canva instead.

That led me to my next problem - how to manage all the different images I want to keep together for Canva. Finding an organisation system for photos that actually works has been the bane of my life for a very long time. Thankfully, seeing my frustration, dd1 offered to help me today, and together we have come up with a way to manage all my photos and videos, which if it works will be absolutely fantastic. I literally have thousands of digital photos and for the last two decades I have struggled to find a set up that truly works for me. Either they all sync all the time and I end up deleting things I don’t mean to, or they create many multiple copies of the same thing in one big jumbled mess and I can never find what I am looking for. It is so frustrating! Now I have icloud which syncs across my devices (so I always have my favourites to hand), and for things I want to store rather than regularly use, I pop them into albums on my phone then periodically move the contents of each folder to corresponding folders set up in my onedrive, then delete the copy on icloud . It amazes me that in this day and age you cant just set up folders and have a way to sync or not automatically based on some folder settings or something but hey ho, I think this time it might actually work and in theory by sorting prior to storage I should avoid the mountains of junk photos/videos being stored. Now, I just need to sort the insane amount I already have into the new system, and maybe, just maybe, I might actually be able to finally tick ‘photo organisation’ off my long standing to-do list! 🤞

EatingBeans

I finally got around to shovelling the rubbish gravel and putting it in the bottom of the raised beds today. It took me all day in short bursts but the pile has officially gone and I now have the space clear for a greenhouse when I eventually get that far (I’ve been dreaming of the greenhouse for over 3 years!) That will still have to wait though, next task will be to empty the home made compost into the raised beds. I’m already losing part of the season as it is the 1st May so I best crack on.

For now though, I am celebrating ticking this job off!

Before…

After…

Cherryfudge

Well done! Who needs a gym when they've got a garden?

EatingBeans

One raised bed done…

Honestly, it could probably do with another bag or three of compost because it will almost certainly settle pretty quickly but I ran out so it is what it is. I am super pleased either way as it has been another back breaking day of shovelling, although compost did make for a change from gravel! 🤣

I am debating a third coat of paint just on the front of the bed to try and cover the writing a bit more - what do you guys think? I still have paint (which I actually bought and used last year so frankly is amazing that it is even covering anything), so no cost involved, I am just trying to decide if it is worth the extra effort?

Either way I do really like these pallet collars for raised beds. Much cheaper than buying wood and building your own, and no screwing needed! The corners hinge so they pack flat for transport, then simply get them home, open them out and slot one on top of the other if you want them taller! 😁 If it wasn’t for the dogs I am not sure I would chose to have them three high though as the amount of compost required to fill them is insane. Just one high is plenty big enough imo if you are putting them over soil. 😁

Cherryfudge

It looks really good, though as you say, the amount of compost must be huge! If you already have two coats of paint, I'm not sure a third would make much difference, but perhaps you could put trailing plants at the edge so as the break up the writing?

When you've finished, would you like to pop round and give me a hand with my garden? 😊