Coco Demann

Thank you Roberto/ Denise…. I think I get the idea about the washer, altho the string will come to a stop at some point as it rotates, if its nailed in? (im probably being thick here!). denise thank you for the tip, if I dare to try and build a labyrinth I will start with this! Ive always loved the idea of the challenge. For the pond I’ll be working with what is there -  the pond lining will be natural clay, and in fact the soil itself is heavy clay: when I went this morning it was 50% full of its own volition after a night of heavy rain…..perfect! I will post more photos, I hope to have the whole area more advanced and a chunk of the site planted with wildflower meadow by spring.

thank you denise and john. john i don't have gps (just accidentally crushed my old phone!) but might see if i can borrow one. denise thats great to see you got a beautiful labyrinth using the stake and string method! id love to know how you designed one.... did it take a long time / lot of study? The pond is actually in a 180 degree part of the field, on reflection - so I will measure the points from the centre point at the rear of the pond. Have put a photo here but it may not show it very clearly.

thank you both. will keep the measuring tools taut, and fair point, will loosen it up if it looks artificial!

Thank you Steven and Casie....I don't have any issue with marking by line and string, just a feeling it might not be as accurate or visually 'perfect' as other more precise methods, but would be happy to be wrong! Its a garden that has evolved by visual instinct so far, rather than planning, so nothing else has been accurately measured at this point. Im aiming to use as much natural geometry as possible, fascinated by patterns, so it will probably be a contrast of instinct versus engineering.

Hi everyone. Ive almost finished building a natural wildlife pond, tear drop shaped, within a circular garden. I have marked out a circular perimeter very roughly, just by eye for the moment. Other than a stake and string, can anyone tell me best way to make the circumference a perfect circle? Its probably about three quarters of an acre in size. Preferably without investing in expensive gadgets. Ps this is in the UK. Thank you!

Thank you everyone for your comments and helpful advice. My apologies for the delay in responding. We got back to the land today. They are apple trees, not sure which type at the moment. (The land is in france, very close to the pyrenees, so a varied but good climate with a lot of rain). They have had about 4 years of neglect, and are choked. I understand the brambles were strimmed at ground level in May or June this year, so I found quite a lot of it easy to pull out from the ground working up. I used hand tools. There will have to be a phase two involving a ladder! I don't think we will be able to do goats or pigs at this stage, maybe in the future. Its in quite a shady area, if that has any implication beyond the obvious Id be interested to hear views. Bw

Can brambles be cleared from a row of old orchard trees, without having to fell or graft the apple trees? Advice gratefully appreciated, thank you