Nina had spent quite some time calculating just how long this particular piece of high-visibility string should be, the answer coming out as 1.83km. I think.
However, the technique eventually "selected" (or fallen upon ;-)) for marking out the grid of beds meant we had to string across paths, not just around them.
So we probably should have had another kilometer for this massive cats-cradle-on-the-ground, but in the eventuality we reused string after spraying the lines with road-marking paint...

The only comparable experience I have had was the laying out of my raised bed vegetable garden at home at Lawson Park, where the weather was even worse than on Saturday, and the terrain a good deal less flat. However I do recall the propensity for string to get very tangled, my inability to tie a reliable knot and the dawning realisation of the vastness of the job ahead. I seemed to have failed to learn from any of this and even forgot to bring a waterproof for the Abbey Gardens laying-out. (A nice FOAG sorted me out with one when my ponyskin coat began to smell of wet dog)

After a few false starts caused by erratic rainbursts Nina and I and the many FAOG settled into not unchaotic (but still productive) teams who marked, measured and sprayed with some urgency in the darkening afternoon light. The session brought to light some of the mistakes in the Council’s measurements on plan, and also some significant issues with soil levels and the crooked south facing wall, all of which inform the next stages.

Posted November 11, 2008 22:57 by Karen Guthrie