My tiered garden log.

Thanks! MMM cookies!
I think it would be a little bit too far from Belgium!

I say i enjoy the woodwork side of things, so while it rained and ruined my chances of spreading the sand, i thought i'd do a bit of woodwork between showers.

Up go the fence posts, bolted into the back of the wall.
Stuffed lots of debris behind to hold them secure while we get ready to cement them in (i still need to make shuttering to hold the concrete between the two walls)

I have over-killed on the fence post side, because i want the option to use the fence posts as hammock mounting points in the future.



Number 1: Fence posts in, fence panel cut bit by bit to fit the gap. Then pulled the braces from the cut part, and re-used them to create the nice border end.

Closer up- you can see how "off square" or leaned over the party wall is!



Two in...

Notice the patio, that's all coming back up again- what a shame! but i've definitely used too much sand under them, i think everyone who came over commented on it. WHOOPS!
So they are all coming back up, spreading the sand out so i can do the entire patio with it.

Enough of that!




The temperature difference is incredible, there's a constant breeze along the side of the hill, which usually runs through where the fence panels now are.
Obviously this has stopped the breeze, but as this part of the garden gets sun all day long, it really warms up quickly here! Brilliant!
I've also butted up the fence panels, another idea to stop as much of the breeze as we can, and we don't like the look of fence posts, so sorry neighbours, you can look at them instead!

And a piece of scrap metal turned up at work after a project went wrong.
316 Stainless Steel,
about 50cm diameter.
a bit too deep for my fire pit idea, but being 316, i can bury it in the ground and not worry!
so here is, my temporary fire pit!
I'll build the stonework around this, and the metal will protect the stonework from the heat, win win!


One problem... It's too big for my car.
Never-mind, i'm in the big car today, hopefully it'll fit!

 

I'm shattered now, all in one night, with the help of my better half on the sand work.
All pavers up, out of the way, new screeding boards (pallet wood, now isn't that suprising!)
Sand re-screeded back thinner, measured up, and pavers back down.
3 hours hard graft and we're now here! Pavers in their final position (not all of them, but the ones remaining are the... "odd" ones, some are thinner, some are longer some are shorter...
We'll sort it!


NB there's a big gap at the end because we need to cut two pavers, and i don't have the tools to do that, so i may have to borrow off a friend.

Overview of the neatness! I'm impressed with myself, Until...

You see the rest of the garden!
Definitely a work in progress!



On another more garden-y note,
Have a tied the top of this rose up right?
On the guides i've seen, the horizontal stems encourage flowers, so i've spread the top out.

 

Oooh a well earned update.
I've looked at the weather forecast for this week...
Typical!
So onwards an upwards, i've decided a way i can carry on with progress. Woodwork!
I know the dimensions of the wood i'm using.
I know the width of the seat, and the style of seating i want to make.
I just don't know the height, or the straightness of the wall.

So, the plan!


Cad model of how the seating should look (obviously with the wall straight!)

The wall is the gray block at the back, the seating is the dark brown.
Cladding at the front will probably be pallet wood, angled as such so when you sit on the seat your feet can under-cut the seat (like any normal comfy seat!) this is rather than having it vertical, like sitting on a box, not comfy!

And everything has "wiggle room" to account for the streightness of the wall, how plumb it is etc.


The inner workings! The light gray bars are where the cladding will be screwed to.


Dark gray stump at the back will be fixed to the wall.
The brown level area at the top is where the bench will mount.
The yellow is the bracing for the seat weight and angle.
The blue/gray is for the cladding mount.



The Gray at the back will be bolted to the wall (which may or may not be plum vertical)
The brown is screwed into the top of this piece of wood (loosely)
Then the yellow brace is attached to the end of the top piece of wood but not the bottom of the gray piece.

Now when i attach the gray piece to the wall, i can adjust the loose brown piece up and down to make the seat in that part of the wall level, then screw in the yellow bar at the bottom to lock in that angle.

Then the blue gray pieces will be added, also accounting for angle so the cladding will be level throughout.

This should give me enough support and adjust-ability to make a very neat job of a really level seating area.

And if all else fails...



I can attach the bright red leg onto the underside of the top brace, through both of the other braces and that will then take up all the problem weight!

With this design i can make all the pieces in the garage beforehand (about 10x of them) maybe 7-8 of them if i'm running out of wood.
Then it's just a case of bolting them to the wall, adjusting to level and screwing everything up tight.

(you see, i like the woodworking side!)

Also the cladding on the front means we don't have to cut lots of pavers to account for the angle in the back wall! Hence not being bothered about the big gaps.
Then on the two exposed ends i'll clad it off with wood and add armrests, just because i can!

 

You lost me on the third or fourth diagram, but colour me impressed!!

 

I like the over all idea Neil but I think the red support is going to be necessary. With many bums on the bench I don't think the angled front will cope with the weight and collapse.

 

I'm thinking legs too! Easier haha

 

It's still not pink. But I'll let it off because it's pretty!

 

I love this thread. Nice rose, I'm obsessed with roses at the moment and can't stop buying. Keep the updates coming!

 

Thanks there's a massive update coming, but I'll need to use the pc for that. So unfortunately you'll have to wait until Tuesday

 

Waiting (im)patiently !!

 

Here we are!
I've had a couple of days off work, so me and the better half have had a good couple of days on the garden.

so... progress has been made!

Here's a sneak peak!





Obviously i won't leave you hanging any longer!

I can't remember how far i got, all the pavers are now "set" with their concrete+sand mix between them, thanks to my better half!
And.. I built the pier all by myself! after being impatient waiting for help with it.

But first, we put up the hammock! The mounting on the LHS will be slightly closer to the camera to clear the fire pit a bit more, but that's bolted into the wall and the tree!



My Important tester, oh' and the remains of the beer from our first bbq up here!

Then down to selco for the last fence panel, simple stuff!



It just about fit in the big car!

as i say, i built this all with my fair hands! (the pier that is!) I'm quite impressed with myself


Flag is on top to check for level, and just in case it rained.


Pavers set in place, and the fence panel up!

Test fit for the height of the bench on the pillar... perfect! (even if i do say so myself)

While everything was setting up, we got distracted by the annoying thin step!
So down that came, and built up with our spare stone



Sorry for the awful picture


The step used to be half the width and it was a squeeze against the wall to get up, so we made two new ones, ready to be concreted up.


Next post, the next day!

 

The next day...s

First part of the bench in, level and checked for ... strength?



The second half my better half decided her book was more interesting, so i carried on!


And here it is!!





In the next pic, you can clearly see the bend in the wall (purposeful)
and the amount of space we have actually created!



Oh and to add to the excitement, the roses have finally started blooming again!



These next ones are so pretty!


yes they do seem to "glow" like that in real life too, oh and the lavender is doing it's job, covering the bare earth below!

And, we have been eating chillies, using chillies for chilli poppers, taking chillies to bbq's for burgers etc, i think we're nearing 100 chillies picked so far, and they are still going strong.
Even though that's only from 4 plants which are fruiting, the other 9 are still catching up, i'll call them lates! haha



Enjoy!

 

Wow! You have really made good progress!

 

Well, that looks a lot different to the last time we saw it! Will the bench need further support? I'm thinking about the eventual weight with more than a couple of 'bodies' sitting there.

The roses look lovely. Have you spoken to Wiseowl, he may be able to identify them for you.

 

I'm waiting for them to turn pink like the label haha! I may do when the last rose to flower finally flowers then I can check all three!
Yup I know. It was a last push, a couple of really long days and sore hands later! Next on the list is the fire pit. Then a good tidy up. Adding legs to the benches .
Then Erm making a path to the greenhouse, finishing the step in concrete. And cladding the lower half of the bench. Then I think that's it for this year.
I've just got a full house worth of doors to replace, then weddings birthdays and xmas , all to come, so the finishing touches can wait until spring