Green side up! Do's and Don'ts of laying turf!

Well here we are again, back at the keyboard and 3 weeks since I was last here, I just don't know where the time goes. I have to start this post off with this pic, its exactly how I want the garden to make us feel.

Just chillin' Grandpa

Wideham Farm

Recently we visited some friends of ours, Leigh and Jane, who are setting up an equestrian centre at West Stow near Bury St Edmunds (www.widehamfarm.co.uk) and have started to take a serious look at becoming self sufficient.

They introduced us to an author (not in person) called John Seymour who is an authority on self sufficiency and has two books in circulation, 'The NEW complete book of self sufficiency' and 'The NEW self sufficient gardener'.  They are worth searching out either to buy or borrow from the library just for the illustrations alone!

 Leigh has to be one of the most remarkable people to see working alongside horses, a genuine whisperer, he demonstrated some of the things he does with his horses and it was amazing.  It was also Coco's first experience of horses and she just took it in her stride.

One of the things we talked about was how will most people manage if we have to start moving away from being totally dependent on being consumers and have to produce some of their own food?


My school had its own Rural Science department where we grew most of the vegetables used in the school kitchens and plants were also sold and the department was self sufficient as far as seeds and plants were concerned.


Many of the skills we used to take for granted that school would teach us have sadly gone and whilst the younger generation is undoubtedly talented, is it in the right areas?

That's it, my grumpy old man moan is done!

All work and no play, well not too much work!

Its been all go in the garden the past three weeks and we have invested in yet more new fangled machinery.  Well its hardly new, but we now have a rotovator found on eBay and collected and put to use straight away, its at least 10 years old give or take a few years but the engine is new and runs like a dream!

When I started this blog I thought it would be about the veggie plot but then it went on to include the forest garden, which is taking shape, and now we need to add Coco's play garden which has taken most of my time during the last week or so.

Anyway, we decided to turf an area at the back of our bungalow for Coco to have as a play area, adjacent to the new decked area and in view of the kitchen so that Nanny Southwellski and I can keep an eye on her. So bring on the rotovator! It churned up the rubbish and old grass a treat and being very dry it was a cinch to rake it all off and put in the compost bin.

Our friendly farmer, Uncle Robin has put a tractor tyre to one side for us to use as a sandpit, Nanny Southwellski found this link which tells you how to prepare the tyre to use as a sandpit. http://www.ecostreet.com/blog/eco-friendly-parenting/2008/04/02/eco-diy-recycle-a-tractor-tyre-into-a-childs-sandpit/

Its a bit of a long link but there is some good stuff on there.

The turf arrived on Thursday last week and I started laying it straight away,  I had rotovated the ground and removed all the rubbish, big stones and what have you before it arrived.  I levelled it out with a rake and rolled it before raking and rolling it again. The joints were staggered and yes, it was laid 'Green Side Up!'

Friday was a scorcher as was Saturday so I decided not to lay any more until today, what a mistake. As I started to load the barrow with the turfs and noticed they were not just warm but very hot!  The further into the pallet I went the hotter they were, steaming in fact!  They had started to go into meltdown and on some it was decidedly slimy in the middle! Now we are waiting to see if they are going to survive.

The ones laid on Thursday are lovely and Coco has already ventured onto them.

Now, I have been building my compost heap for several months now, layers of green between layers of brown, turning it, covering it in the cold days, keeping it moist and heaping more love on it than a compost heap deserves and it isn't anywhere near as hot as the pallet of turf got in three days. Now what's that all about?

The chooks are doing nicely, we get 7-8 eggs a day on a regular basis, Little Nanny Mero takes some of them to the place she lives in and sells them to the residents there, she says she can't take too many because it affects their cholesterol.

Best of friends

Coco and I have chores to do before breakfast and feeding the chooks, is one of them.  Then we let the dogs into their run and then we let the two old girls, Meg and Lou into the garden, only then do we have our breakfast.

Our youngest terrier cross, Blossom (right) is a real nutter until it comes to Coco where she is a gentle and affectionate little dog. If Coco is around you can be sure that Blossom isn't very far away.


We want to teach Coco that animals are a responsibility not to be taken lightly and that they are to be respected.  In return the benefits, enjoyment and affection we get from them more than makes up for any inconvenience we might experience.

Coco has been helping to pot on some of the seedlings we have grown, she takes the rubbishy bits out of the compost for me, and then tries to eat them!  Mmmmmmmmmm!

Working term times, and I have to say being lucky enough to only have to work a couple of days a week gives me plenty of time to do stuff in the garden, and around the house although my indoor job list isn't getting any shorter with the nice weather.