So tyred!

In order to get my studio built, the next stage in the process is going to be digging out a section of the back garden to lay a concrete slab.  Hopefully by this time next week I'll have a big old pile of lawn-ish and slightly weedy topsoil . . . and I have a plan for that!

Actually this plan has been bubbling under for a year or so, you see I have a section of old railway embankment at the back of my garden.  It's steep and originally it must have been a stone construction, and it's covered with a shallow layer of topsoil and a thick layer of scrubby weeds and brambles.  Aside from some narrow steps, it's nigh on impossible to navigate the slope, and keeping on top of the weeds and brambles has been beyond us for a while.

Then last year I saw a picture of a recycled tyre climbing thingy in a kids playground on Pinterest.  The tyres were painted and piled up, and filled (I think) with bark chippings, and I thought, "I could do that up the side of my slope!".  So the plan is to clear the weeds down to the ground along the bottom edge of the slope, lay down some old cardboard to kill off any remaining roots, and start with a row of spray-painted tyres, bolted together for extra security.  They'll then mostly be filled with the topsoil as it gets dug out, and I'll plant into those tyres.  I've got a big bag of slate chippings from a previous garden re-jig, so some of the tyres will just be filled completely with chippings to make pathways to climb across the slope as the layers of tyres build up, and on dry days they'll be nice spots to sit too.

So . . . on Saturday I picked up my first stack of old tyres from the local garage.  I've been washing them down in a paddling pool, with a trug full of soapy water and an old dustpan brush whose pan got stepped on.  Madam's been enjoying de-gravelling the treads with a screwdriver for me, and once the first lot were dry, they got sprayed pistachio and daffodil.  I can tell already, this is going to look good.

I'll take some pictures soon!