Still Toiling in the Garden...

After a rather wet weekend, We have nice warm and dry weather this week, and the big garden project continues (causing further neglect of my wargaming hobby)

Yesterday, with some help from a senior neighbor who has always got the right tools for the job, in this case a hand winch, I managed to get the large evergreen bush near the newly cleared and edged corner out of the ground.

Earlier yesterday, I almost completed the rose bed edge - but I ran out of cobbles just short of the back corner, and that simply will no do - so I have ordered another ton of cobblestones, and am now planning to do the entire edge along the hedge (which is also why the bush had to go now).

Today, I put a lot of soil into the ditch vacated by the bush. Tomorrow I am going to put an extension on the string I use for marking straight edges, and start removing turf from the hedge edge.

I also dug up some rhubarb that needs to be moved to the vegetable garden. This little spot was our strawberry 'field', and I am going to add some top soil to make it level with the lawn, before we plant a lot of new strawberry cuttings there.

In order to get to the rhubarb, I had to cut back some branches on the blackberry bush to the left, and of course I first picked them clean of ripe fruit, which went into a jar with a bottle of vodka, as I really like blackberry 'schnaps'.

Tomb Kings Minis Sorted

It is quite an impressive array, but, unfortunately, I cannot put a single unit on the table from this without doing some work.

Never the less, I am happy with the purchase, as I shall be able to make quite a lot of units for my God of Battles Lords of Undeath army (and, of course, some points for A Fantastic SAGA - whenever I get around to playing it).

LOTS of bits and stuff on sprues!

The boxes were part of the deal, and I am quite pleased with the extra storage opportunity while I wait for my wife bringing hope some print paper boxes from work.

I tried sorting the models based on weapons. That method indicates that I could make a lot of Skeleton Warrior units, but what I really need for my army is some Skeleton Horde 16-model blocks, so I shall try to construct some of those, keeping the option open for transforming them to Skeleton Warriors.

Yes, I now own a LOT of Undead Chariots. I consider making Light Undead Chariots a Main Force choice, as these are considerably less bulky than my classic plastic chariots.

Opened, but otherwise NIB

Some of these had been assembled, but otherwise untouched

Clearing the Dinner Table

Yesterday, most of my hobby clutter had been moved to the new prepping area in the study/office, and it looked like we would soon once more be able to use the dinner table for its original purpose.

Today, however, I used the table to sort my Tomb Kings purchase from Friday afternoon, and until I have got sufficient boxes for getting them stowed away, the table will stay cluttered...

More Progress in the Garden

Yesterday, I finished about 1/3 of the rose bed edge (some minor adjustments will have to be made, but all in all I am pleased with the progress). Unfortunately, today the weather is really bad, and I am not going to get anything done - but from tomorrow the forecast is good, and I expect to be able to spend a lot of time in the garden the entire week!

My wife and Anna went out today, and bought a new wheel-barrow (our oldest one is getting very wobbly, and we always seem to need to move something when both wheel-barrows are full), some joint sand, and some plants for the newly cleared and edged bed in the corner of the front yard, which means that I can also get the cobbles stabilized as soon as I have finished the rose bed edge (I do not think that much cobbles will be left over when it is done, and as the family Land Speeder needs a very expensive repair, I think I shall have to postpone ordering more - but I shall know more about that later this week).

More Skeletons for my Undead Armies

These boxes contain a fairly large second hand lot of GW Tomb Kings minis that I purchased today.

They are, of course, going to be used for my Lords of Undeath God of Battles army, but as I am also planning to try out A Fantastic Saga very soon, they should also make appearances in that regard.

As I am still in my five-days work cycle, I do not have a lot of time on my hands, but if it rains tomorrow afternoon (and it looks like it might), I may start unboxing and sorting the minis, so I can figure out which ones can be pressed into immediate service, and which ones I just need to give a touch-up first. Of course, eventually, they will all have to be re-based onto washers, but I think I shall get some games played with the usable ones as soon as possible, too keep my attention pointed at them.

Next weekend, I am going to pick op a HUGE lot of second hand Warlord Zulu War stuff that am going to purchase at well below half price - I really got an offer I could not refuse - and that purchase may kick off my Usuthu! project and have me paint up a Zulu Impi for In Her Majesty's Name (at which point I am also going to need some antagonists for them).

All these plans are, of course, subject to delays by to the ongoing garden lawn edge project, which have to take precedence until autumn sets in for good...

Double Cobble, Toil and Trouble...

Well, not so much trouble, really, as the project progresses at a steady pace.

Today, instead of walking the eight clicks I normally do for exercise, I opted to pull out my old bicycle and bike the distance instead, in order to save some time for working in the garden (I started my five-day work cycle yesterday, and have to sleep during the day).

I also tinkered a bit with my other old bicycle, which is a slightly more sporty model, to get it ready for tomorrow, as the gears on the other one needs some repair (if possible - I am going to have a bicycle mechanic assess the damage one of the next days).

I managed to finish the trench for the cobblestones on the right side of the terrace, and I also got the tile sand poured in, so most of the edge now only needs the actual cobbles.

I still need to do the curve and short left side, but that is a minor task, compared to the right curve and long right edge.

Tomorrow, I shall probably not be able to get anything done, as I have to go get some second hand plastic skellies for my God of Battles Lords of Undeath army, and we also have to drop off Lea at Glavendrup Viking Market, as she has been invited to attend as part of a re-enactor family (the father of one of her classmates is a big shot in the Danish Viking community).

Along some of the right terrace edge were some slate (I think) kerbs, four in all - I had moved two before taking this photo - that I intend to use in front of the woodshed, where we have some half-finished flowerbeds. Nice to finally have a good reason to dig them up and put them to better use!

The Summer Continues...

...and so does my toil in the garden.

I have leveled the soil in the area vacated by the bushes, and I have added more soil to the flower bed along the hedge to make it level with the lawn, and I have removed the old bricks that formed the all too narrow bed edge.

The plan is to continue the flower bed all along the hedge - and edge it with cobbles - but I need to remove that evergreen bush at the back, before I can do that. Probably a sub-project for when I run out of cobblestones.

I have also laid down most of the passageway from the terrace to the lawn.

I needs to be adjusted a bit - there is a height difference between the two ends of the passageway, so I had to pull a string at ground level between the two areas to use a guide for the cobbles.

As you can see below, I have also begun removing turf and digging the trench for the edge around the rose bed.

I intend to extend the cobblestone edge all the way to the far corner at the back (last photo), although this may mean that I shall have to redo it, if/when I give the terrace an overhaul (right now it consists of three different types of cement tiles, and I would like it to be all hexagonal tiles like the ones extending from the front door area along the front of the conservatory - but that has to be a separate project from this upgrade to Garden 2.0).

The earthen patches are shallow 'hollows' in the lawn that I am trying to make level. Does not look all that good, but I hope it will pay off in nicer games of croquet and boules pétanque.

The slates at the back in the middle of the picture are going to be placed on long edges in the soil as a stable edge to the large flower (and strawberry) bed extending all the way along the north edge of the lawn (it is to the right of this photo).

Our property is situated on the banks of a stream valley, so the flower bed is sloping away from the lawn (I hope to somewhat remedy that when renewing the soil for new strawberry cuttings to be planted), and I want to ensure that the cobblestone edge will be held in place, even if heavy rains make the soil shift a bit down the slope.

The yellow slide I removed  from the swing set a while back, as the wooden frame has deteriorated badly, and will probably have to be removed or replaced by something else. Another separate project, I guess.