Non-Gardener builds an Observatory, Garden Railway and even Dabbles with Plants!

@ArmyAirForce, great jeeps, lovely paint job. What paint did you use? where are you putting them?

 

Thanks. The paint is a mix of Humbrol model enamels and Tamiya solvent based acrylic for the silver on the lights. They are going to go on the sun room slate border for now, but I've just about got Lynne convinced to put a stream in there next year. The Jeeps would then be off-roading around the stream.

The long term plan is for a feature, such as a half water barrel, located near the patio doors and Yew trees, pouring out into a small pool. From there, it would wind down the slate border, stopping at another pool part way down, before carrying on to a final pool where it would be pumped back up to the top. I can take power from the sun room and run a cable out under the slates.

 

Thanks, I particularly asked about the whereabouts and paint because I wondered if the paint was suitable for outdoor use ?
I am always impressed by you and your wife's energy and enthusiasm.

 

All paint will suffer outdoors for long time periods, but model paints seem to do okay from past experience. At some point, the Jeeps may need a complete repaint, but I suspect that will be a few years away. I'll probably put them in the cold frames over the winter, more for the plants than the Jeeps. They don't hold a massive amount of soil, around the same as a 3 inch pot.

 

17th June 2025

On the 17th, I picked out all the rubble and remains of the tarmac from the drive gravel and raked all the gravel up to the new edging. On the other side, I back-filled some soil up to the edging and re-seeded the lawn.



The concrete base for the water barrel was cured enough to set up the barrel and then I was able to cut the lid to a tightish fit around the square downpipe. Because the original downpipe bracket was broken and also too short to reach the wall with the pipe in the new position, I fastened some nylon strong around the barrel, secured to the original bracket screws. This helps to stabilise the barrel against the wind when near empty.

The Jeeps were also planted.

 

19th June 2025

On the 19th, I began digging out the foundations for the edging around the wood. This channel isn't the final depth, but just an initial excavation to plot the line around the wood. Once I have the route done, I'll then fine tune the digging to get the stones at the heights I want. I've got around 15 feet dug out so far. It was a really hot day, so ended up with the patio table down there to support the sunbrella to give me some shade.



On the 20th, I was at the Tanfield Railway Steam Gala all day, resting on the 21st then out with the Jeep at Northallerton for their 1940s day on the 22nd. It was on and off rain on the 23rd, the first time we've really seen any rain for a while. At least both water barrels got partially refilled.

24th June 2025

With many of the Canterbury bells dying off and the tall Silver dust bent and battered by strong winds, it was time to do some pruning and digging out to tidy things up. The Endres cranesbill that had been getting squeezed between the Hebe and Cornflower, was dug out as the area was getting over crowded. It's possible my future stream will pass through here.

On the opposite side of the path, two Canterbury bells and a Silver dust were dug out, a Pansie moved and the Endres cranesbill replanted in this location. The pink and purple to its right, now mirrors the other side of the path, which can be seen in the picture from the 25th.



25th June 2025

I continued digging out slates in this area, heading over to the Cornflower. Lynne wanted this thinning out, so after clearing and washing all the slates, I was able to cut the weed membrane and get a spade into the Cornflower, to halve it at the roots. Once out, I cut a patch of weed membrane and tucked it under the bits already there. I didn't bother to glue the edges down, as it may well all be dug out for the stream.

The half that was dug out, was replanted at the back of the wood, near the rear entrance. If it survives, great, if not it's no big loss as it was being dug out anyway.

 

27th June 2025

The veggies were doing well at the end of June. The dry first six months of the year meant very few slugs, so the strawberries survived the bugs and were starting to give up their produce. The onions, which had been in since last year were also harvested. The potatoes aren't there yet, but are doing well.



During the early hours of the 27th, Mrs Fox and all three of her cubs, came to the watering hole for a drink. There's been so little rain this year, all the puddles and flooded fields have dried up, leaving very few places to have a drink. Our mini pond is one of the few places that animals can get a drink. I've had to add this as a link, as the Youtube 'Short' can't be embedded.

https://youtube.com/shorts/bW8PEIyWIHA?si=2JvUQ4Iq-Hm78rf3

 

1st July 2025

In the back of the woodland, the White and Red campion had started flowering. I'm fairly sure these weren't purchased, so are most likely to have been dug up from elsewhere in the garden and moved here. Can't say I recall seeing them, so I have no idea where they were dug out from! Perhaps the edge of the slate area near the sun room.



There were two ferns inside the wood, that didn't appear to be very happy. They had a tiny bit of growth, but otherwise looked quite dead. Both were dug out and moved to the front edge of the wood, near to the middle entrance. They were positioned either side of another fern that was already there ( and healthy ) and are now growing well and looking much more healthy, with lots of fresh growth.

 

2nd July 2025

The Canterbury bells, seen in the upper left, were dying off by early July, with most of the flowers now dead. So those and others around the garden were dug out. A couple in the wood and the back of the railway have been left to go to seed.

Under my daughter's bedroom window, the Silver dust was flowering, but many of the stems had been snapped by gales and the end of June and early July, so those were also cut down and dug out.



3rd July 2025

I still had a few Achillea in the cold frames, so two of those were planted near the pond, in the area that had been occupied by one of the ferns. I'm not sure if it's too shaded for them there, but they needed to be planted somewhere!

Some additional Achillea and Cornflowers were also planted in the back of the woodland to help green it up. None of the wood anemones, meant to flower in the Summer, have grown. Despite lots of watering and a 24 hour soak before planting, I think it's just been to dry for them to germinate. Perhaps they will come up in the Spring next year? Time will tell.

It's also been very hot for digging, but the lawn edging foundations are creeping up the wood and are almost at the middle path now.

 

8th July 2025

More butchery! The Yew trees are a bit of a pain to trim. They get very tall, are on uneven ground, making ladders dangerous and they shed bits all over the slates when trying to trim them. Earlier this year, Lynne and I decided they needed to come down to around three and a half to four feet tall. This would make trimming easier and reduce the amount being trimmed. We need to let the centres grow again, so they can be shaped and rounded off at the top. One trimmed and two to go.

I also trimmed the Yew hedge near the kitchen window and after that was done, was able to plant the Osteospermum. Six went into the kitchen border, with the other six under my daughter's bedroom window.

 

Lovely to see the fox family together.

 

@ArmyAirForce, all of your hard work is starting to pay off and you can enjoy the benefits of it.
I am impressed how you can turn your hand to so many different jobs and was wondering are you a builder? or do you just research how to do something as and when you need to? You always manage to make it look so doable and make me feel like 'I can have a go at that'

 

No, I'm not a builder, but have always been able to turn my hand to any practical task using any tool. I don't often do any research on "How To" and it sounds a bit smug, but making stuff just comes naturally for me. I even made Lynne's wedding ring, having being told by the jeweller who sold the gold that I wouldn't be able to!

 

Keep up the good work, you are obviously very creative, well done!

 

10/11th July 2025

Micro Pond 2

After making pond 1 and watching the video from the pondcam, it quickly became clear that any plants placed in the pond, would quickly be trashed by the birds. The Daisies around the pond were quickly dug out by birds looking for bugs in the moist soil. So the pond plants I bought, remained in the bucket in the cold frame. Two of the water Forget-me-nots died fairly quickly, while the third flowered and then died. The Red stemmed parrot feathers grew really well, multiplying from the eight original stems, to a bucket full. I needed to do something with them.



After the Canterbury bells died off, I had a fairly large terracotta pot free. Hmm, could this be a new patio pond? On the 10th, I used some left over gutter sealant to glue some plastic patches over the drainage holes and then added a layer of all weather window silicone over the top. It was given a day to cure.

Today, I filled the pot up in the morning and left it for a few hours, watching for any leaking. All seemed well by mid afternoon, so I began work. A layer of bubblewrap was added in the bottom, so the bricks that followed, wouldn't be pressing directly on the silicone plugs. The bricks would build up the height so that the plant pots could sit in the water, just a little below the surface.

After I put the pots in and added a couple of Creeping jenny plants too, as apparently they don't mind the wet conditions, I hid the bricks and filled around the pots with some slates. I ordered a £10 solar powered water pump to give it some circulation, so I'll have to rearrange everything in a few days. Who knows, perhaps we'll have "Dragonfly-cam" next?!

EDIT - 18:08hrs. I think it may have sprung a small leak, but it's going to need replanting when the pump comes anyway. We're also heading to a garden centre tomorrow, as we need some new two feet diameter planters for the workshop patio. Both the wooden ones are rotten, steel rings falling off and generally falling apart, so it won't be long before they spill their contents. So if we're out shopping anyway, I'll have a look for a large plastic pot without drain holes.