We have raised beds and they look great. However, even with supposed treated sleepers, and insulating sheet, they do rot and after about 10 years need replacing.

I've been managing my jobs with the cheapest hammer drill I could find.
Have done this for 30 years.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to treat myself.
Bought a DeWalt hammer drill.
What a difference it makes.
The power/grunt, and precision is fantastic.

Like it so much I've ordered a DeWalt impact driver so I don't have to swap drill bits for screw bits.

You recommended a Toro mower to me, Steve, and it has been brilliant since we bought it last year.

Bit more garden DIY

First up a big roller base for large cantilever parasol.
I made the base from concrete in a wooden form.
Then used a stone grinding wheel to smooth / reveal the stones.
Heavy duty 2 wheel lockable castors make it easy to move / stabilise.
Had this up in pretty windy conditions. It's heavy!
Granite ones with similar function cost a mint!





A while back we created a water feature / fountain.
Not that inspired by the garden centre fayre, we bought a large planter.
Ran cable though it, sealed with roofing and gutter sealant.
At first we had a solar powered pump - Way too flakey.
I ran a pair of PTFE insulated silver plated wires around that are powered from an old 12v power supply on a timer, or we flock it on when we are there.
The pumps are cheap and robust but even with improved DIY filtration still gum up a bit.
My solution was to fit high quality automotive sealed plungin water proof contacts to the pump. These are cheap.
Have two pumps and just switch out when one needs cleaning.
Done in a jiffy.
Sterilisation of the water is provided by a bit of Jacuzzi bromide tablet. Only takes a tiny bit at a time.
Nothing grows or lives in that water! 😂



I finished the Versailles Planters too.
Used a PVC right angled section, bonded to the top edge / liner using Urethane glue (amazing stuff).
This means clean edges visually and no soil / water can get behind the liner.
Marie is going to take some nice pics, will wait for those before showing.

Next up, she wants ~7ft tall archways to our gravelled / growing quadrant area!
You can get metal powder coated ones - I bet all the powder coat flakes after a couple of years!

I have other construction ideas. 🙂

Surprised that base can hold that huge sail
All looking very good

The perspective perhaps it's a bit fooling.
That's a sizeable chunk of concrete and thick too.
Weighs 120kgs.

I made this one first for a smaller round parasol.
Smaller thinner and single wheel castors.

Update on the Silky Gomtaro
Brilliant
I am cutting through 6" trunks and have saved myself a tree surgeon visit
The goat willow has returned close to upright which I'm fairly sure means it will live and probably thrive, eventually

Good buy. Thanks ChrisB

Harrod Horticultural make some plain steel ones available in either black or rust finish.  I installed a couple a few years ago and am impressed with them (I cut the base plates off though).  If you have welding / brazing equipment you could make something for less:  I was too lazy!


www.harrodhorticultural.com/harrod-vintage-wire-arch-natural-rust-pid9440.html

A little bit of light plumbing today.

When we had the potting shed built (no I did not DIY that one😂), the digger was here and we got the ground men to dig a trench from the rear outside tap area to where Marie has her main raised beds.
Some 30m away.

They installed a 20mm blue water pipe, covered it over and tamped it down nicely.
Good job done, you'd never know it was there.
Today I installed the take off joint (compression) from the outside tap feed.
This is from inside the rear of the garage, through hole in the brick wall.
A step up from 15mm copper to 20mm water pipe fitting.
On the 20mm side, a 90° bend down and then into a shut off valve and on to the long blue pipe.

The pipe was blue, the 90° and all screw on fittings bright blue and the shut off lever signal red!😂
Now is all black (Mike will approve).
Once weathered a bit it will blend in.

Here's how it looks.



The other end, at the moment is rather standpipe!



But it works.

Plan is to brick build a little tower, perhaps 35cm x 35cm and 60cm high, with roof, not dissimilar to a beehive in form.
On the side away from the house, we'll mount a 35m side mount hose reel. That will take us everywhere we need to go!

She's happy!👍


Another slow burner project is to reinstate the well!

This is on all the maps dating from way back.

This one is 1907




Nice touch with the apple orchard trees that were here.

This one from 1947



This one is from the 1850s



It's fun to imagine just how few buildings there were here back then!
A few thatched cottages and older tiled houses.
The Old Stores (owned by friends of ours) was there back then.
They have a feature Well in the kitchen extension that can be illuminated.

I'm interested in pumping out water for the garden - by law you can take 20000 litres a day!
Perhaps even drinking and going off mains supply, if it's okay.

First we have to find it! It's not visible anymore 😒
There are firms that can help.
One not far from here.