Hopefully you’ve been following progress so far on the construction of the kitchen garden. Things have picked up over the week as the wet weather has started to break although it’s still been very cold and windy. The fun has really started with the actual construction of the growing beds.

Unlike Hatchet and Botchet Incorporated, our builders have developed an efficient system for putting the posts into the ground which will have the boards attached to.  This means they are all equally spaced and follow a consistent line.  Now I would have never done it this way but rather spend ages marking out each individual post.

I also don’t have a proper sledge hammer to make the peg bashing easier.  Once again I’m convinced you need the right tools for the job.  Like a band saw to sharpen the ends of the posts.

But also a template so the posts can be slotted in and then bashed into the ground.  I like the way that the kiwis have build their own work bench against the new retaining wall.  No mucking around on the ground.  A bench at the right height for operating their saws and making life easier all round.

Left of the pink string in the above picture will be a fruit bed, then the main ring road path around the garden.  Between the pegs is the first bed that will be accessed from each side making them no tread beds.  In fact, the plan is that they will be no dig beds too. Now the shape of the kitchen garden is starting to come to life.  It’s exciting and frightening in equal measure.  I’m putting money where my mouth is and we’ve gone too far to turn back.

Not that I want to at all.  In fact, the more I think about the potential of a backyard pantry the more exciting it gets. And, then you turn around.

For every job we start and finish here at Domestic Executive HQ we end up with a massive pile of soil.  This one will I hope be used to backfill the retaining walls but as I’ve learned over time must check the schedule of works specification to find out whether this is just my idea of what should happen.  Generally I find a line of small print that says Excavated soil to be stockpiled close to site. This time I’m determined that we’ll have a completely finished job and will make sure the digger is put to work to dump this lot out of sight.

And we know what out of sight means!