preparing ground

Last week we had begun our gardening journey by clearing 6m2 of virgin ground as a nursery bed for our transplanted shrubs. The soil was dessicated, stony - and sand.

This week we have had a team on site and made massive progress with over 15m2 of soil turned and enriched with ten barrows of well-rotted muck forked in.

More ground needs clearing and enriching, but we are 'well on the way' now.

We are very lucky - our new neighbour keeps horses and has a deep pile of well rotted manure we can use. My personal best time for the return trip from the nursery bed with a barrow full of muck was eight minutes. This included time spent rubbing a Jack Russel Terriers tummy!
No gym for me this weekend!

With the wind behind us we will begin transplanting our shrubs after next week.

This bed is likely to be our shrubs' home until Autumn 2012 and so we need to give them the best chance we can. The position is at the highest point of the site and south facing and will become very dry during hot spells in the summer.

So when they are dug in, we will add more of the well-rotted manure and a handful of bonemeal to each planting hole before finishing with a good mulching.

And then it will be up to Mother Nature.