Number 3 today?

I meant to write this yesterday but I was out rather later than I expected. Then Ms McKinley grabbed me by the eyeballs again and made me read Deerskin until 2am, that is two nights running now.

Anyway, I think some people are turning up some time today to help me with garden shifting and concrete lifting? Not sure who, how many or when. Sometime around midday maybe? I shall go off shortly in my grubby gardening clothes to aquire random food to feed these theoretical helpers.  Would those who mean to come please drop me a reply if you read this? I shall look forward to seeing you.

May I suggest that extra shovels would be useful? I have one but only one.  Ah, and
the doorbell is defunct so mobile phone is also useful in case I am out back when you arrive.

thankyou, thankyou

I said it to their faces many times, I'll say it again here. doushkasmum and sacred_chao turned up and we managed to get the concrete out from under the herb garden!! Yay and double yay. This involved
-harvesting 4 LARGE rocket plants, pulled up, leaves stripped, washed spun and either cooked or bagged.
-cutting back the oregano and festooning the loungeroom with it-to dry (see pic below)
-heavily trimming the lemongrass- made tea from some (yum) and some is drying in a basket for later tea making.
-lifting temporarily all remaining plants except the passionfruit. Thyme, oregano, lemongrass, 3-4 parsley plants, 4 silverbeets. The latter two might not survive but I am hopeful for the perennials.
-dismantling and shifting the brick wall
-digging out almost all the dirt
-smashing and levering up the concrete. Mostly this was not strong, rather crumbly actually.
-pouring clay breaking solution over the exposed clay
-rebuilding the wall, slightly expanded
-shovelling all the dirt back
-replanting oregano, thyme, lemongrass
-lots sweeping
-preparing and consuming a three course dinner accompanied by several beers.

 We found one mysterious pipe with a cover which we looked at and put the cover back. Let sleeping pipes lie.

Because of the missing depth of the concrete and the expansion of the perimeter there is now not enough soil to fill the garden. I plan to go buy a trailer load of mushroom compost next weekend to make up the lack. Then I can replant the rest of the displaced plants, and maybe some extras! I am SO happy this is now done. Whew. Should have done it 2 years ago but I had no idea then how much I would come to enjoy gardening. One lives and learns and hopefully improves.