Lights Fitted and Raised Beds Measured

I've now fitted those lights in the sitting room, and they're behaving just as hoped. The previous lights had big metal hoods which stopped much light from going up to the ceiling, but these have 'bare' candle bulbs, so even though the bulbs (cumulatively) have no more power, much more of the light bounces round the room. Very pleasing.

With the lovely weather earlier, we also went out to re-plan the vegetable beds, and measure up the perimeter of the raised beds. The first design for the veg beds was, really, too fussy, so we've simplified it considerably. There's a long bed at the bottom (about 7m by 1.25m), parallel to the fence, and continuing the lower raspberry bed, and then a C shaped bed (squared) above this (6.7m). Within the space this leaves, there's then an annular bed, with a path cutting into it. I'll do a plan, when I have a chance.

Anyway, doing that allowed us to calculate the perimeter of all the beds that want raising. We intend using 6" planking, two high: there's about 170m of perimeter, so it adds up to a lot (80-odd) of planks. I know where they're coming from, so I'll probably order them next weekend. The pegs for the beds will also form the supports for netting cages for the fruit, and we'll have to work out how we net the veg beds later. Then we'll need soil to fill the beds: I'm guessing about a dozen cubic metres, but I have the measurements to get a proper figure. An expensive installation (about £600 for the planks and posts, and about the same again for soil), but should be well worth it.