There was a bit if a chill in the air this morning. Not unexpected as the weathermen had predicted the first overnight frost yesterday. They’d got it wrong this time but the low temperature and cloudless sky suggested it was only a matter of time. As it happened the day developed into a lovely mild and dry one with only a few spots of rain in the afternoon.

Conscious that as Autumn draws in there is an increasing chance of weather which will make it difficult to work in we threw ourselves into work with the intent of making major progress.

We picked up the new sleepers and re-commenced work on the front garden. Much of the soil had been cleared of weeds and grass already so the main task was to cut the soil bed back to 4’ and to reduce the height of the remaining soil. All surplus soil was transferred to a corner of the front plot. The soil is predominantly clay and whilst in most places it is compacted it is in remarkable condition breaking down to a crumble with a few sharp blows from the edge of a fork. We’d dug into the soil in the growing area previously and were ecstatic about the clay there too. We have been told that a large area in this part of Leatherhead was allotments prior to the houses being built, so theoretically the soil should be good.
After many hours of serious digging the area was ready for the sleepers to be laid and bracketed together. They are untreated and at present are a glorious deep ginger/brown. What a stunning difference they make to this part of the site – which undoubtedly was the most unattractive of the entire plot. It shouldn’t be too long before the bed will be ready for planting, which will transform the look and feel of the site for our neighbours as well as ourselves.

Mid morning a new recruit turned up with no obvious intention of helping out. He inspected our work, visiting each of us individually, spoke to us rather loudly and, when he felt ignored, he’d stand on our feet to demand attention. It’s probably fair to say that he slowed proceedings a bit, but this young cat made the day that much more enjoyable and stayed with us until we left.
The compost bins were finished (the 10% left over from last week) and home-made handles made from leftovers and Freecycle bits were added to all compost bin lids. It was essential to clear all possible vegetation into the compost bins with the grass cuttings being layered between shredded material. Three hours of shredding later the task was complete and the 2nd composter was full.

Over the past week we have agreed the garden design. The plot is a strange shape and not symmetrical in the slightest. We agreed that the design should accommodate the maximum number of vegetable beds mostly of a size around 8’ x 4’ with some smaller beds of around 4’ x 4’ for children and for herb-growing. The pathways will generally be 4’ wide for mobility of those in wheelchairs and some beds will be built high enough to be reached by those that have difficulty in bending down. All in all we wanted the design to be interesting – and so that’s what we have laid out on paper. Today we pegged out the first two beds in preparation for them being dug out next weekend. We need to remove the top foot or so of soil as the site contains some rubble, probably from the time the surrounding houses were built.

With all tasks on our list ticked off we bid the little cat farewell and went home for a bath perhaps but definitely a rest!

We were blessed once again by some fabulous weather. This October has been exceptionally mild and sunny. Making up for a rather cool and wet Summer perhaps?

The major building works today are two new composters so off to Travis Perkis in Dorking to pick up the insulating sheets and marine ply. The composters are to be situated next the newly thinned tree area and work started with levelling the ground and securing five strong pallets donated by the business of one of the Project Team. The composter design – courtesy of Compost Works - is fabulous and very effective. We’re getting quite expert at building these now and the two new composters look much better than the first one (largely because we’re using new ply). Maybe we can offer our services elsewhere!!! We managed to shred some of the cut vegetation from last week but our plan to finish both composters AND fill at least one backfired. We ran out of time (and energy?) with the 2nd composter 90% complete. Perhaps we would have finished it if we didn’t have that photo break!

There was a very good turn out today with several new faces from the community complete with strong determination and muscles! Taking advantage of this the construction manager actioned various site clearance and reclamation tasks which included transferring large bricks, surplus soil and rubble from the front of the site to the patio at the rear and lifting some recently revealed paving stones from the grass. These will be used in the parking area at a later date as we plan to extend the parking facility to reduce the chance of garden participants adding to the parking in the surrounding roads. Apparently the paving stones were put down by the Leatherhead Children’s Centre when they used the site a few years ago and formed the pathway to a Wendy House.
Early in the day one of the volunteers noted “I haven’t seen one worm on this site yet”. Whilst not intended as a challenge, this proved to be the trigger for a worm collection and relocation exercise (to the full composter) as tens of worms were exposed in the front garden digging. We had mooted buying some composting worms – we’ll probably not bother now!

Work was well underway on the front garden digging out soil to reduce the bed depth to 4’. Before the soil was able to be transferred to the patio we had to clear the weeds, grass and roots, separating the compostable matter from the hundreds of white convolvulus roots which were discarded. The team was under the cosh somewhat as we planned to bring the sleepers to site the following week to build the bed support.
The site was undergoing a transformation which was completed with the pegging out of the 4’ paths either side of the site. What a psychological moment that was. The weekly progress is fantastic and so rewarding for all involved. Roll on next week?!

This second Working Party session started with a check on the compost. Lifting the lid revealed a wonderful steamy heap of decomposing vegetation – a big thank you for the know-how to Compost Works, a Fetcham based organisation promoting composting in Mole Valley. Give it a few months and we’ll be digging this into a vegetable bed or two.

The grass had grown a lot since our last working visit as the weather had been intermittently sunny and rainy in the meantime. We set to work mowing and strimming the grass and thinning the tree area to the rear of the site. All surplus vegetation was put to one side for composting. We wouldn’t have time to shred the shrubs and branches today and we had been eloquently told by Compost Works of the folly of composting grass alone! Off to B&Q (thankfully a quick walk from the site) to get some tarpaulins to keep the cuttings dry.

A mound of pea shingle had been put between the grass and the car parking area several years ago and the more robust weeds and coarse grass had taken up residence. Once cleansed this shingle can be put to good use elsewhere on the site, but meanwhile we have to clear it to a builder’s sack (or two as it happens) in a holding area. We debated whether this was just back-breaking work or good exercise, as it was possible to get a rhythmic routine. The differing opinions probably represented the glass half-full or half-empty rhetoric!

The growing area began to take shape and looks neat and tidy. Such was the effort being extended that some of the tools were giving up! The front of the site had what could loosely be called a flower bed against the wall – a bank of unretained soil with matted weeds. We had started cleaning this at the 1st working session and continued with this today. Our plan is to build a raised flower bed retained by new sleepers. We can picture this but it will take a serious amount of hard labour to achieve it.
Designing the garden including the beds layout is next on the list. So the site was meticulously measured. Oh for a square site! Never mind, if we measure some right angled lengths from the building or the fence this will help us double check our measurements….won’t it? Perhaps we should have done that garden design course first!!
We packed up in mid-afternoon suitably exercised and tired. Much progress had been made. The next working session is the following Saturday, but in between the Project Team will get together for another evening planning meeting.