Val & Petes Weblog

I am delighted to report that Peter has finally finished the construction of our mountain garden. Last week, 6 years from the start of his project, the last stone went into the last dry stone wall and the last bed was prepared for planting and it is looking good. Peter should be proud of his achievements.

Val did do a bit to contribute by paying another visit to the local garden centre to select the plants and suggest the positioning of them for Peter to tenderly plant them up!

So what is he going to do with himself now?

Well, the garden may be finished but the project still goes on. The original plan was to build a wall at the bottom of the plot where the garden disappears into a deep ravine. However, Peter’s last efforts revealed a wide, almost flat, solid rock shelf extending from his last walled flower bed to the end of the plot which he thinks just cries out for a bench where he can sit and contemplate and admire the view from yet another angle and plan another project!

So, he has now decided that a wall would spoil the natural ruggedness of his view and thereby evolves another project!

The plan now is to have wooden posts with rope strung between and already the posts are in place so the new project is well under way. He then plans to continue the theme by putting a rope hand rail alongside all the rugged steps from the top to the bottom of the garden in the hopes that it will give Val confidence to venture down there a bit more than I have to date.

The roped hand rail will not be as simple to install though, as instead of just having to drill holes into the bedrock and bolt plates in place to hold the posts as he has done along the bottom, he must put long spikes well into the ground to hold the posts firmly in place. This will necessitate hiring heavy drilling equipment to assist him getting deep into the rocky terrain.

He can’t wait to get cracking with this when and if we ever get the remaining posts and spikes from the supplier and when and if the latest wet weather improves.

On a final note Peter should be very proud that the torrential rains of the last few weeks that have caused so much damage around about us did not shift one stone that he had lovingly placed in all the walls he has built!