Recycling the soil mountains

The lie of the land was basically flat, a bit boring to look at, with nothing of interest to hold the eye. It needed major re-shaping to create features of interest. The soil mountains were to be a godsend for that purpose. The idea was to build up the soil around the ponds to create little banks, which would be planted up later, as cover for the creatures who would come there. The remainder of the soil would be used to build up beds of interest, like little islands, with winding paths around them.

A second barrow was acquired to speed up the process of dispersing the soil to the various areas around the garden. A pattern soon emerged whereby my husband would fill the barrows for Number One Son, who would wheel them to me, and help to rake the soil into interesting shapes for the beds, while Number Two Son would render some TLC during each day, by supplying us with food and drink. We were a team with a dream to create a garden for wildlife.