Drain in the way

[Snow]

So I dug down today where I was planning on putting some nice parsnips.
It was all going well till I hit another stone...except, it turned out to be a drain cover instead.

After putting it back you can see roughly where it is, marked out.


I guess I will have to put kale there instead, and put parsnips over by the fence (will be awkward digging that over - especially as the large plant next to it is about the flower and the bees love it.

[veggiechicken]

Can you put some sort of raised bed there? Just high enough to give your parsnips root-room?

[Snow]

Can you put some sort of raised bed there? Just high enough to give your parsnips root-room?

I could but it's near the gate so it would limit space more at an awkward point. Also effort and cost. I'll probably just have to avoid planting root veg there. I must have just missed the edge of it when I planted the potato plants just to the side. Maybe I will get a straight-edged potato.

[veggiechicken]

Maybe I will get a straight-edged potato.

Grow your own chips

[Jay-ell]

How big is the area you're talking about? If the. area is about the size of a manhole what about one of those stacking square boxes with its bottom cut out as a raised bet.

[Snadger]

You may need access to the drain cover at some time so it would be better exposed and disguised with a planter or similar in my view?

[Snow]

You may need access to the drain cover at some time so it would be better exposed and disguised with a planter or similar in my view?

Well, indeed. This is the stupidity of it, it has Inspection Cover written on it which sort of suggests it fulfills that purpose, though it's a foot deep under the ground and I had no clue it was there. The builders should have made it level with the ground, but my guess is that they hid it because it was easy for them to place it there, rather than somewhere sensible and they knew the owner (me) would ask them to move it rather than having it in prominent place in the garden. I think it's the drain from my garage roof to the nearest proper downpipe, which is on the corner of my neighbours house.

[roitelet]

You could do what we have done with our septic tank covers, that is, build a wall of bricks or such like roung them and then put a slab or wooden cover on so that they are above ground level. or buy a coller for the manhole which will also raise the cover.Then you can stand something on it to disguise it and it is still accessable.

Don't builders have any sense!!!!!!!!!!!

[Snow]

You could do what we have done with our septic tank covers, that is, build a wall of bricks or such like roung them and then put a slab or wooden cover on so that they are above ground level. or buy a coller for the manhole which will also raise the cover.Then you can stand something on it to disguise it and it is still accessable.

Don't builders have any sense!!!!!!!!!!!

I builders have sense, they simply don't care. It was easiest, quickest, and cheapest to do it the way they did. Same reason they put an axial extractor fan in my en-suite which was not suitable for a long duct run. They knew that, which is why they didnt bother connecting the duct up to the fan in the loft. But of course, as a potential owner you just turn the light on and hear the fan, and think, great, it's got an extractor fan so the room wont get a condensation problem...

Anyway, I digress. It is deep enough they I can grow something in that space, just not root veg. I am going to try putting kale there I think.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I find most true builders have a great deal of common sense usually much more than many of their clients.

The customer usually wants Buck house for the price of a garden shed and that is not going to happen.

Many here will have had some works done in their home but how many for instance have asked for a copy of the contractors third party liability insurance, how many have actually asked to see the supposed gas engineers registration card. In over 25 years of compulsory gas registration I have never been asked for either except by other professionals.

Remember cheapest is not always the least expensive!!!!