Long Bank Extension Epic

I started creating the long bank extension at the start of September 2008. This is what it looked like a couple of days in...

One year on...

Two years on...

Three years on...

And then I did my shoulder in. No progress at all in 2012... And this was left to do...

So after spraying with weed killer yet again in July (and missing one section in the middle of it) come August I started work. I hadn't wanted to do all of it in one go but having missed a year I just went for it.

Nine days work to do the first pass of stones and weeds removal:

Oh, and one ant's nest in the middle which I sprayed and another at the top/path which I left well alone. And the day when the flying ants erupted from that one and were crawling all over the top before flying off haphazardly in all directions.

And did I mention the slates. It was bad enough finding them buried all over the bank - put your spade in and it comes to a full stop so then trowel to determine where it is to get it out, but when I thought I was almost finished I found the mother load buried about 4 inches under the surface about a foot in from where I wanted the edge to be. That cost me an extra day's work...

They stretched from the red hot pokers for a good yard and a half, several deep and were 'flaky'. I don't know how far in they go as I stopped excavating (very carefully - the small shards are as vicious as glass) when I had gone far enough for the garden.

I also dug out three wooden posts, numerous nails especially amongst the above slates and the ubiquitous farmer's nylon rope (orange and blue).

And then I started the second pass. Dig it all over again with a spade and get the rocks in place for my stepping stones. Another five days work. Paul helped getting the very heavy rocks in, and a further four rocks were provided by Allan (in addition to four donated a couple of years ago) to let me complete it just under 5 years on from when I very first started. And Jean still thinks I'm mad...

I had a couple of days off (well, getting nettles out of the high bank) but the last week I have been weeding the rest of the LBE (still not finished) and populating my new section. Other than bulbs and one shrub (a choisya from Morrison's) everything has been transplanted or divided from plants in the rest of the LBE.

I have reclaimed the path stretching the length of the LBE - this involved a lot of digging out of pulmonarias - and to think I started with one that hitch-hiked in a pot from Sandhurst.

And near the end of the path I noticed that the hibiscus that Maureen gave me as a seedling from her hibiscus that was a seedling from my mother's hibiscus is going to flower for the first time!