When we had to take cost out of the house build, one of the things that went was the underground water collection tank. We made do with a blagged old split IBC container which I sprayed black to reduce algae formation, but there was always a plan to do something better. So we borrowed Carol's horsebox to take delivery of these rather odd looking horses......which as you can see are now stabled on the north end of the stable block. We get 2000l of rainwater storage for about £100 rather than several £K. Of course, this guaranteed that once Alan completed the installation, it didn't rain for several months - so we were back to topping up the pond with tapwater which is far from ideal.
And now for the copse in the top rear corner of the garden - the long-term plan was for there to be autumn and winter colour - euonymus, cornus, daffs - planted under the birch trees. We tried long grass this summer and it didn't really look good, so it was time for the turf war...
...and now there is room to underplant the aforementioned. Whilst stripping the turf, we had to watch out for the crocuses and snakeshead fritillaries that were naturalised under the trees - I have dug up and potted several pots of crocus pending the rest of the replanting but hopefully the snakesheads are all a bit further down and have survived the turfstripping unmolested.
Stand by for the next thrilling instalment where we'll catch up with how the new grass-daisy-and-fruit beds got on through the summer.
