Just when you thought it was safe to start planting...

Friday was my birthday, and Plot 79 duly obliged with a present: another path. I was digging over the west side of the Old Greenhouse foundations, ready for planting. I knew it would be hard(ish) work, because there were bound to be bricks and other rubble there, even though I'd already dug out most of them with the foundations. Roots from the ash tree extended a few inches below the surface, out into the bed, (which suggests it's been a long time since it was dug over), the longest reached about 10ft from the trunk. I chopped them off, and got a lot of bricks out, digging from west to east. Half way across I encountered something more substantial than the usual bricks.

Another path, running from North to South. Much better workmanship than the one I found earlier in the week, running East to West, and made up of three kinds of concrete. This is concrete and brick, very solid. About 1ft below the existing surface. It's actually below the level of the greenhouse foundation. Although it's outwith my plan for that bed, I'm reluctant to dig it up, for the practical reason that it's probably laid on a load of rubble and broken glass. And for the less practical reason that it's been there longer than I've been on the planet, and is part of the plot's early structure...

So, it's staying. There's still a hump in the old greenhouse area. The plan now is to dig out that area, level with the Birthday Path. It's about 10x10ft, and a spit deep, so maybe 10 barrows full. I'll spread them around the rest of the plot. It means the topsoil is going to be thin here, a few inches, but I can work to improve that.

The photo also show the rubble I've got from here, so far, and the roots from the ash tree.


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