Path luck
The weather has stayed dry, although there was a tiny bit of rain overnight, and a slight sprinkling this morning. I have carried on taking up the path. I had a very unproductive session on Monday – the toilet cleaner didn’t seem to have done any good at all. I didn’t even manage to take up an eighth of the path before I became too tired to carry on.
So this morning I thought I would carve out a few grooves at the other end of the path and keep filling them with toilet cleaner in the hope that several applications might help weaken the concrete even if one application seemed to have no effect. And then I had some luck. The foundation at the far end of the path is much weaker than that at the near end. I managed to break up more than a quarter of the path in one session, which means I am now halfway through. In the picture below you can see which bits I have done because I have put small paving slabs against the fence where the foundation is missing. This is to deter foxes and badgers which might otherwise feel tempted to burrow underneath and possibly damage the fence panels.
Path removal progress
I also did some planting. I planted my three pelargoniums among the baby thuja. This doesn’t count as pot removal because until a week ago I was keeping the pelargoniums indoors.
Pelargoniums among the baby thuja
I planted some persicaria which I dug up from the communal shrubbery next to my house. The persicaria has done very well in that location and was getting overgrown, so needed thinning out. Honest. I checked the levels while I was at it – the spirit level in the picture is resting on the corner of the lawn edging. The ground slopes down to the back of the fence, so the conifers are lower than the soil level will be next to the lawn edging. I planted the persicaria at a height that was in between the height of the base of the fence and the height of the edging. It is the sort of plant that could help hold a slope together, so I am hoping that it likes its new location. That means three pots have gone.
Persicaria and sprit level by the back fence
I checked the levels at the left hand side of the garden too. Again, the ground slopes down towards the fence. I estimate there is a height difference of about 5 cm. This should not be too bad to deal with, but will need some thought when I lay the stepping stones.
Number of pots = 126. Percentage reduction so far = 13.1%