Demolition

Finally some good weather has arrived and I've been able to get out into the neglected London garden. We have tentative plans to have a conservatory built - way in the future probably - but I've started thinking about planning what will be left of our garden, which is only small to begin with! Today I moved a rhubarb crown from its original position into the raised bed which runs down the side of the garden. One crown had already been moved (a couple of years ago) and has settled in well to its new position, so I have hopes that the second will also take. Probably it should have been done when they were dormant - but the weather wasn't conducive to digging!

Originally we built three ponds in this garden, each overflowing into the next. However, over the years subsidence has had an effect, and the brickwork has suffered from leaks. A while ago we took the top pond in hand, removing the liner and rebuilding the inside in concrete. Although there's been some slippage since so it's not quite as level as it used to be, the sealed concrete has been successful. The lowest pond had moved substantially and we removed it a couple of years ago - but still haven't done anything with the space! Meanwhile the middle pond had deteriorated further, with the west wall bowing out so that it looked as if it were about to burst. Last year I stopped the water circulating in that pond, keeping the water flowing only in the big pond, which now holds all the fish. Today I drained the middle one and began to demolish the brickwork. The plan is to rebuild it - but on a smaller scale - this time lining it with concrete as we've done with the upper one. The foundations are firm but the rest of the brickwork can be taken apart by hand, without even swinging a hammer at it!