Brother-in-Law, Concrete Slabs and Raised Bed Edging

Sometimes my Brother-in-Law Andrew is willing to help me with odd jobs that I can't manage but being a life long bachelor he's used to doing his own thing all the time and now he's retired he's just as busy as he was when he worked, so I don't like to ask too often.

But sometimes he surprises me by doing things I've not even asked him to do . For instance when I first moved in and he brought the garden stuff round that had been stored at his house for 9 weeks he put the dalek compost bin in the empty storage area behind the garden shed and I said I'm going to get some slabs to stand it on so I can make a bit of compost without rats being able to get in. (The District Council Garden Waste bin is literally only for garden waste so things like vegetable bits from the kitchen or tea bags are Forbidden......with a  capital F!)

Last week he rang up to say his next-door neighbour was going to be replacing a paved patio with some decking and how many slabs did I need and they were 2 foot by 2 foot by 2inches so I said good grief I'll never be able to shift them even if I had a sack barrow. He said he'd bring them over in his trailer as they were a bit awkward to get in and out of his truck. Which he did and then proceeded to level off where they needed to go and lay the slabs - job done....brilliant! I asked him if there had been any smaller slabs as one was needed out by the front paths where there was a gap which meant stepping over the soil at the end of a flower bed every-time when going between car and front door. He said no they were all much too big for the gap. But then later he rang to say he'd found something smaller to fill the gap and would bring it over and fit it in for me as he had a rubber hammer and some sand which was what was needed. 

And he did........... It's much more sensible now as you can see below. The lighter slab and smaller bit have filled a gap that the previous owners must have been stepping over for 7 years? or maybe all owners since the bungalow was built in 1983!

Then early last year when he was cutting some wood for me he said he wouldn't cut up some large sturdy lengths as they were just what he needed as extra scaffold boards ready for using while painting his house. So when I moved here and was thinking about what to use for the edges for the raised veg. beds I asked him to hang onto the boards when he'd finished painting as they would be ideal for what I needed.

A couple of weeks ago he said as he'd now finished painting his house he would give  the boards I wanted a coat of weather proofing ready for me!  I said "brilliant thank you, I'll be able to dig some slots for them to stand in and then fill the middle with flattened cardboard boxes and some soil". The next conversation was him asking me what size the veg beds were going to be as he would cut them to the right length and find some angle joints ready to fix them together!

I keep telling him he needn't do all these things and there's no hurry but it's been a real help, and I'd better treat him to Fish and Chips again when he's next over!

Back Tomorrow

Sue