| Earthly Comforts Projects Diary Entry 1 |
| Guildcount Lane Sandwich April 2023 Footpath from Scratch |
| Another busy weekend was had, and it would have continued had it not been for the appalling weather that kickstarted Monday. Rain. More rain. Again. Although there were some sunny spells to be seen in the later afternoon, there was nothing much l could do physically, so l opted to create blog content for this week. I have a busy week planned – weather permitting, of course. Last Friday from around half ten in the morning to half five in the afternoon, Suze and l were busy making a footpath for Edward’s garden. It was the first time l had created one from scratch. I have been involved with making them over the years but only from the point of reference for helping other people. I purchased all the materials and had them delivered the day before on Thursday. However, l had under-ordered on the bags of 10 mm gravel, so on Saturday, Suze and l bought another two bags to finish everything off, fine-tune and titivate. Edward was thrilled with the results, so that is all that matters. The path was, in fact, one of the first official jobs for Earthly Comforts – the business as opposed to the clients in the Butchery who were the starters to the business being realised. Although Earthly Comforts will be a gardening business for Suze and myself – it is split into two distinct areas. Two of Suze’s friends have offered her a regular gardening contract. Still, she can only take it up once she becomes self-employed, gets her UTR [Unique taxpayer reference] from the tax people and has public liability. Once she has that secured, she and l will become joint traders and form a partnership under the Limited side of the company. Together we will be in the gardening and home care business with Earthly Comforts, although l will mainly concentrate on building up The Compost Doctor side. Suze wants to pursue a career opportunity in property investment, but that is for the future and likely sometime in 2024. So in the meantime, Suze intends to establish the Home Care side to Earthly Comforts. The Butchery is a regular gardening stint for both of us, and it was our starting point to establish ourselves in Sandwich as town gardeners. By the time Suze is self-employed, things will become easier. If l can land the volunteering position of composter in the Jubilee Garden Project l wrote of last week, this will aid me further, as will the role of working the promotion boards for Gazen Salts. Combined with the allotment and the compost freebies l am offering friends, l hope this will all pay off. I plan to have some A5 cards printed for advertising around Sandwich, but I need to get my ‘fork dirtied’ first with an assortment of jobs before l promote myself. |
| I began the footpath on Friday, and for the first two hours on what turned out to be a sweltering day, l was digging the path line. Edward decided he didn’t want to have a turfed lawn anymore and opted to have all of the back garden planted up with shrubs and flowers aside from a ‘gardener’s path’ down the middle, which was our task. His gardener had previously lifted all the grass off the site. This was helpful and hindering due to the rainfall we have experienced over the season. It helped the digging as that meant the waters softened the soil, but it hindered it because digging the earth made for muddier times. Once l had dug and broken the soil and excavated the first three inches from the top, Suze joined me in the levelling process, and we made the trench ready for the landscape matting, which helps to suppress weeds and stabilise the soil better. It also means that you can ensure that only a set amount of gravel is being used [as in not sinking into the ground] Once this was secured and the pathway edging fitted, l poured in a top layer of sand so that the decorative aggregate would sit comfortably. After that, we added the finer 10 mm of pebble and levelled it even. Although l had ordered six bags of this, we realised an additional two would be required. Finally, with all the topsoil removed, l could redistribute and rake it in and around the rest of the back garden area, making it easier for Edward’s gardener to plant into. I realised that whilst we were both pleased with the finished path and so was Edward, there was a better way forward for the business, and whilst creating footpaths might be an occasionally accepted job, it wouldn’t feature as a regular on my price lists. I am not a landscape gardener, and l am not a horticulturist [the latter is a consideration for the future of learning, though]; l am a general maintenance gardener and mostly a composter. Suze only wants to be a general gardener. So we currently know our limitations. But there is never any shortage for work for gardeners who will simply weed, trim and mow lawns. Still, at the end of the day, we did create and craft a decent path for Edward’s garden. I look forward to seeing how his actual gardener fills the space around it. |
| Thanks for reading. |
Earthly Comforts 
Really nice work!
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Thanks Grace 🙂
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This looks awesome and neat. Well done both of you. 🤍🤍🤍
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Many thanks 🙂
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You’re most welcome
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Ok so when are you guys coming to my house to help me? Lol – be International yard practical
beautification lol
🙏 lol just kidding with truth behind it lol 🤷♀️ cause I wish for ideas to do – but also to be able to do them. I have some issues
You guys just blow me away! Very cool 👏👏❤️
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Hey Trisha, it’s funny a friend of Suze’s asked the same thing and l said ‘well maybe we should make for an American Garden Roadtrip’, Suze’s eyes picked up a bit with that – who knows eh 🙂
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Hahaha – I would be so excited 👏🙏
That would be quite an adventure and really cool to follow
That sounds like very fun and amazing idea!! 👏🫶❤️ maybe someday 🙏
That does sound fun and interesting
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Maybe one day who knows 🙂
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