Reality Bites

It was soon obvious that the vision of beautifully woven sweeping beds were somewhat beyond our ability. Rectangular it is then. Rather than try to batter posts into the concrete ground, I thought a freestanding bed might work. Building one however required some skill with a hammer. Enter Hubby. The man of my dreams is very useful to have around. He knocked together a basic frame using Ash logs and willow posts. I spent the next few weeks trying to find enough willow to weave through the frame. Where had all the willow gone? It had been coppiced !

At about the same time, Dee expressed an interest in helping. As a “local”she has lots of contacts so getting manure to fill the bed should be OK. Also, I had somehow got myself involved in a raised vegetable bed project, for the local community. A side effect of this was that a JCB was brought in to clear the site. This made life a lot easier. Also while my willow weaving was nice and rustic, it was purely ornamental and would in no way hold in any soil. Call back Hubby who over a Sunday afternoon built an internal frame from bits and pieces of wood lying about. Of course it would have been easier to build it before the willow hurdle, but hey ho!

Now it was just a matter of finding something to fill it up with. As you may have guessed by now, this is a project with absolutely no budget. Dee as I have mentioned, has lots of local contacts, and even better, a trailer for her car. This was used to make a number of trips to a local stables for well rotted manure.

Now the fun bit. What to plant?