Path from house to observatory - ideas please.

[Gina]

Been having a good think about this and the observatory generally and may have a plan.  The ground round the observatory wants attention and I could combine this with the path.  I'm thinking of weed control membrane with pea shingle on top.  I may be able to include better drainage for water coming down the grass slope towards the observatory.  ATM the goat has ad lib access to the whole area but I want to reduce that.  She can be a nuisance if I'm moving gear in or out of the observatory and I quite fancy having a bit of garden.  This is an extension of the blue path option above.  Diagram not to scale..

Edited July 25, 2016 by Gina

[Gina]

This diagram is pretty much to scale and I've incorporated my micro-observatory for widefield imaging.  Planning a tiny dome

[Gina]

Added approximate measurements.

[8kids]

Wood chips last longer, bark tends to rot/break down quicker. You'll also need an edging of sorts to keep it all in place.

 

[Gina]

I estimate the area as around 30 sqm.

Costing main items :-

1. Wickes 10mm Gravel Pea Shingle Jumbo Bag  13 sqm/bag so 3 bags @ £39 = £117
2. Apollo Heavy Duty Landscape Fabric 2m x 25m  £35
3. Delivery £30

Total £182.

I need a section of roofing for the sun lounge to replace one that got torn off in the last storms and disappeared into space never to be seen again!!  Wickes 10mm Twinwall Polycarbonate Sheet 700 x 2500mm and I need that delivered too so I can include that with the pathway stuff.

[Davey-T]

Sounds like a plan Gina, just need a couple of strong young men now  to do it.

Do the Scouts still do bob a job ? 

Dave

[Gina]

Stronger and cheaper than Wickes :-

100g 2m wide weed control fabric ground cover membrane landscape mulch garden

Ground cover, Landscape fabric, Weed control 1m 2m 3m 4m 5m Widths+ Pegs Staples

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Gina,

To divert any run-off water, dig a French drain along the top edge of the path with fingers down to the fence.

This is just a 200x200 mm trench filled with pea gravel for the water to seep into...

[Gina]

I checked out our local stone merchant but he hasn't got anything small enough - sharp gravel of about 2cm (or a bit more) was the smallest, so it looks like Wickes for that.  I'll probably go to the local timber merchant for edging though I do have some timber already that I could use for part of it.

[RuralBill]

I would use Cotswold chippings instead of pea shingle, as the chippimgs compact down and form a nice firm path but not rock solid, and peas shingle is harder to walk on and makes a hell of a noise when walking up and down.

i have had Cotswold all round my house for 10 years, best thing I ever did, put it down around 4" thick, within 18 months there is now a solid base with about 1" of loose chippings on the top, so nice and firm.

Bill

[Gina]

Thank you for your suggestion Bill   I see what you mean.

[Gina]

I think I'll go back to my first idea for gravel and digging out the turf for the path.  I have a 1960s tractor (which I inherited) with hydraulic forks and a bucket and a smallish pile of scalpings (mixed sharp gravel basically) left over from doing the yard which could go down as a base layer on top of the weed control membrane.  I don't think there's enough to do the whole job.  After that I can decide what to use for the top layer.  Need to get the tractor going - I think the problem is battery terminals which I can fix.

I used the tractor a few years ago to clear the ground and dig foundations for my observatory, using the box on the back to transport soil, stones and turf away from the observatory site.

[saac]

Jings, I've just looked with envy through the "Show Me Your Eyepiece Case" thread - left thinking I'm not a proper astronomer until I own a few Naglars.  Now Gina goes and tells us that she has a tractor!!!!  And I thought I had arrived when I got a wheelbarrow with a pneumatic tyre instead of one of those hard things you got on your first bike as a kid. 

 

Jim

Edited August 2, 2016 by saac

[Gina]

A nice day and no visitors or meetings to go to so I was able to go out to the shed and check the tractor.  The battery connections were fine - it was just a flat battery which is now on charge

[Gina]

I might change the location of my no.2 observatory (round and green) so that the path can run straight along the boundary.  I'm thinking of making the area to the north of the path into a garden, maybe with a water feature.

[Gina]

Tractor now working fine   Well, it started alright and I was able to raise the hydraulic arms.  Didn't try moving it as it was getting late - plan to do that tomorrow (if I can work out / remember which pedals to press ).  Then I can use it to pull the bucket the right way up and bolt it onto the arms.  The plan is to use the bucket to lift the turf and also to grab some gravel from the heap once I've got the weed control membrane in place

[Peter Drew]

A video of the action would be good!   

[Gina]

I'll see what I can do

[Gina]

I'm thinking a single sheet of weed control membrane would be better than overlapping separate pieces and considering a larger area of decorative path and possibly a rockery and water feature. 

Ground cover, Landscape fabric, Weed control 1m 2m 3m 4m 5m Widths+ Pegs Staples   I'm thinking of a sheet 3.3m wide x 20m long.

This SketchUp model shows a possible water feature in front of the living room window which faces almost south.

[Gina]

Tractor running this morning and carefully manoeuvred out of the shed, which wasn't easy.  Tied a rope round part of the bucket and the cross bar on the hydraulic arms and reversed the tractor to pull the bucket right way up and drag it onto clear ground in the yard and roughly in the right position to attach to the hydraulic arms.

[hughgilhespie]

A heartfelt 'Thank You' to Herr Otto Diesel!!

[Gina]

Yes indeed    And yes, this is a diesel tractor.

Here's a photo of the tractor and bucket.  One of the attachment bolts and nuts is in the bucket but the other must be somewhere else - I'll have to find it or buy a new one.

[Gina]

Still not decided on how much to make path or garden.  The piece of weed control membrane would cover the area shown in the diagram below.  I also don't know if fixing pegs are necessary.

Edited August 6, 2016 by Gina

[saac]

Gina I don't think you need to use pegs to tie the fabric down, at least the stuff that was laid by the builders around my house has no ties - just held in place by the weight of the stones above. Having said that if you're laying such a large area maybe staking it down would be a good idea just to stop the breeze catching it as you are working. I wouldn't go for anything fancy, a nail with a broad head or a clothes peg would do, lift them out once you got the stone down.  

Love the tractor Gina, she is a beauty, do you do anything in the way of routine maintenance to keep her going?

Edited August 6, 2016 by saac

[Gina]

I thought of using bricks or stones to hold the membrane down while I dumped gravel onto it.

The tractor is a Fordson Dexta 1962 (I think).  Normal maintenance involves greasing the nipples every year or so depending on use and checking levels of water in the radiator, hydraulic fluid and, of course, diesel.

Edited August 6, 2016 by Gina