Busy Outside

I have finally got around to tidying up my front garden.  Last year I had several tree removed including one outside my front door which Margaret and I planted in 1998.  It was supposed to be an ornamental Tibouchina growing to about 2 metres but over the years it grew well over 4 metres and used to fill my gutters with leaves.  For the last year I have had a barren area which only grew weeds so I decided to create an informal little courtyard area where I could sit to catch the morning sun in Winter and the evening shade in Summer.
 
First I had to dig out about 12 square metres of topsoil to a depth of 10 centimetres or about 1.2 cubic metres of dirt which weighs about 1.5 tonnes.

Beginning to dig out the topsoil.

Little did I know that although I had had the stump removed the roots of the tree extended over the whole area and they had to be dug out as wall.

The first roots.  I ended up with about ten times as much as shown here.

Having dug out enough area to put down a paved area for a small table and chairs I compacted  the subsoil and put down a layer of sand as a base.

While this was going on Louis was digging his own hole in the back garden.

 A half a tonne of sand

Setting the level of the paved area.

 The paving is done and a half a tonne of pebbles spread around them.

 

 
Helen has arrived to stay for a few weeks so Louis can now relax

Helen and I put up a little fence to screen us from the road.

When seated we can not be easily seen from the road but we have a good view of the neighbours.

The removed topsoil has provided a good base for my veggie patch.

Helen and I are going away for a few days next week to the Gold Coast so I will update this blog after we return.