Outdoor area.

[Anyfoot]

Whilst we have been waiting for the indoor foliage to grow we have been working on the outdoor area for the past 4 days over Easter.
Few before shots. You can see I live on a hill, so I'll have to tier it to give flat areas.

Removed the old wall and path, also now got electric and running water up to the indoor area.

Rebuilt new wall with the old wall bricks.


Today we built a new wall up the right hand side using some eco treated railway sleepers I had left over from another job I was doing.
These are all tied together with banding strap then cemented in.



Next I have to build steps up to the indoor area, then level all that rubble out and fill in with top soil. Then I need a fence as a barrier on the new brick wall.

I suppose to keep peace and will do the rest of the garden this summer too. Our garden is like a builders yard at the moment.

 

[Yvonne G]

The builders in the UK sure do use a lot of bricks.

The wall and fence look very professional. I'm anxious to see the finished product.

 

[Tom]

Looks great. I would not tier the hillside though. Hills are great for tortoises. Flat tiers with drop off, not so much. I try to incorporate hills into my enclosures when I can.

 

[Anyfoot]

Looks great. I would not tier the hillside though. Hills are great for tortoises. Flat tiers with drop off, not so much. I try to incorporate hills into my enclosures when I can.

I'll incorporate the hills then, that makes life a lot easier for us.
Huh, Dawn was right again, we had this discussion today, and she said what you said.

 

[Careym13]

Very cool!

 

[Tom]

I'll incorporate the hills then, that makes life a lot easier for us.
Huh, Dawn was right again, we had this discussion today, and she said what you said.

That Dawn is pretty smart, isn't she?

 

[turdle yerdle]

wish I had that much space

 

[omarnegron]

Wow! I really like it. I can't wait to see this enclosure finished. Congratulations!

 

[bouaboua]

WOW! ! ! !

I also wish I have that much space like yours. Can wait to see when you finished. Keep on posting~~~~~Please! !

 

[David Schmidt]

Looks great

 

[hingeback]

Nice, Is the slab lip what you mentioned previously? Looks very cool! Do you weather proof the wood? If not, how long does it last until you have to change it?

 

[Anyfoot]

Nice, Is the slab lip what you mentioned previously? Looks very cool! Do you weather proof the wood? If not, how long does it last until you have to change it?

No, there will be a fence level with those slabs on the wall.
The wood(railway sleepers) are already eco treated when bought, where ever I've cut the wood I've sealed it with an eco friendly stain. Should last years, I did something similar to this on our front garden to level it up, after 3 years everything is still as new. Im expecting at least 10yrs before any signs of rot.
You can buy used sleepers that will last forever, but they have been coated in some nasty toxic stuff.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Nice job.
I too have had an issue with hills in the fact that I had to MAKE some..For summer rain drainage.

 

[NDevon]

Looking really good! You have very lucky tortoises. Will they have access in and out of their 'home' or will you need to put them in and out depending on the weather? I wondered if that was what the two small windows down low were for, if not what are they?

What other plans do you have for the landscaping? Pool/water features? What do you plan on planting?

 

[Anyfoot]

Those 2 small windows are for torts to come in and out at will. I had to modify the those windows so I can take out the window part completely, from the inside. I'll have to show you what I did some other time. But basically when it's closed, it's sealed as good as a double glazed window, standard Windows won't open wide enough. These were only £45.
I need to put some vinyl curtains on the inside and outside, double layer to help keep the heat in, also I need to raise the outside level up to these windows. (Or get some parachutes ).I don't want the torts scraping the bottom of the window frame constantly, so will build removable ramp covers for that.

Outside foliage will be grasses, weeds and bushes for them to hide in, I've noticed that torts seem to get great pleasure in spending hours pushing there way through dense bushes.
The small tree on the left is a mirabelle tree I found in an old orchard.. I have orders not to remove that other wierd tree in the middle. I also have 2 hibiscus, fig, buddleia, and cherry tree to go in there. I do have another plum tree, it's a Victoria plum tree, but decided not to put that in there, I was worried about the size of the pits. Mirabelle are very small plums, about 1"/25mm dia fruit(small pit).
So when trees are mature, I should get fruit from may to October, cherries being the earliest to fruit over here unless I decide to stick some gooseberry bushes in, I have huge Apple tree in the other side of the garden that Fruits September to December, although I don't give them too much Apple, very acidic, fed once a month maybe. Apples are high in fibre too.
Water feature, I'm keeping it simple for now, there is a small pond in there already,if you look carefully you can see it. I'm taking the wildlife out and putting it in a new pond. Then using this old pond for redfoots bath. I need to reduce the depth somehow. Not sure how yet. May just pile loads of pebbles in.
If anyone has suggestions, speak up please.

 

[hingeback]

If I am building an indoor enclosure I'll probably need to add a cooler and let the heat escape

 

[Rue]

I think bigger rocks might be better to have in the bottom of the water pond...just because it will need to be cleaned out and I think (from experience) that scrubbing rocks periodically is easier than digging out pebbles and cleaning them...

Or...maybe you could concoct some sort of raised platform for it? Out of PVC pipes and mesh for example...that can be submerged (so it won't be visible when the water is topped up), but is easy to take out and clean...

 

[NDevon]

I'd be really interested to see how you did the windows, sounds great and a good price.

For the pond, I turned an old pond into a safe water feature when kids were little, I put bricks in the bottom so there was a stable base to put a thick heavy wire panel on, still loads of water in there, and remember I was doing this so kids could walk on it. I then put some smaller holed mesh on top, then placed stones on top completely hiding the mesh and everything below. Pump in water sticking up through stones, I could have the water high enough so there was a small pool upto a few inches deep, or no water at all showing and the pump just spraying it up and onto the rocks and it all trickled down underneath. Cleaning wasn't too much hard work, at first I had to take all the stones off but then I just cut a section out of the wire so I could move stones, remove small mesh panel and reach pump in a few seconds. I'm doing something on a much much smaller scale in the vivarium, just a false bottom really, nothing complicated but means I can alter the amount of water they have to bathe in as they grow.

 

[Anyfoot]

Got steps done today, had to mix and match using cut offs as I was running out of railway sleepers. But job done.
Next is to fill up with soil and sculpture the landscape.
Back to work tomorrow for a rest .

 

[Rue]

Love it! Great progress too...