My first constuction project

Hi everyone, well I decided to buy some scaffolding boards and I wanted to make four main beds and two raised beds at the back of the plot. So last week I recruited the father-in laws help with driving the Transit van and we traveled an hour and a half to pick up the boards. When we got there we saw a French flag flying proud. The chap who was selling the boards to me was a Scouser, so not the typical French man. So when we loaded the boards on the van we had to ask "why the flag?" It wasn't much, he was only in the French Foreign Legion for five years! A man you want to be with in a pub!

Anyway back to the plot we went... First of all the gate was broken so we couldn't get in the site! So I had to jump the gate and the father in law passed the boards through the fence near the plot. We only had 36 of them! We had 16 3mtr boards and the rest was 6ft boards. So after stacking them all on the plot I had no energy to start so I decided to leave it till yesterday.

The plan was to have the main beds 4.5mtrs x 4.5mtrs. Lauren started to measure and it would take a full 3mtr and I had to cut some off a 6mtr board so we would have a lot of off cuts. So we decided instead to construct the beds 4.5mtrs x 3mtrs.

The first bed constructed

As you can see from the pic I constructed the first bed, with this bed I used a hammer and nails, what a mistake! It took me ages! So the wife went to her Dad to get a drill for me! Life saver! Its not a perfect bed but it does what it says on the tin. Eventually this will be filled with organic matter but I'm not overly concerned about that at this stage. This will be done through the years.

This is my sawing bench!

So with the aid of a power drill it made the process a lot easier!

The second bed was constructed. As you might see in the pic, you can see quite a mistake. Look at the gate... is there anything wrong? haha now it can not shut fully! So when I'm at the plot next I'm going to switch the hinges so it opens outwards.

So after most of the day I got the four main beds constructed! As we had to change our plans I have a lot of space still for other beds. So what I am going to do on Thursday (my next day off) I am going to see how much timber I have left and I will construct as many raised beds as possible. I say I used only half the plot for my main beds so hopefully I can construct around 6 raised beds in the available area.

All in all I had a good day, I made the plot my own and I have added structure to the place, this enables crop rotation to be easier, weeding will become easier as I will see separate areas to weed instead of a whole plot.

On another note my rhubarb is starting to make an appearance :)

Spring is almost upon us! I can't wait for the long evenings and the warm sun... and wearing shorts!!!

I hope you enjoyed reading this....

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