Clay. Pipe!?

Before progressing with any more planting around the railway I need to hunk up some more of the solid clay that's pretending to be soil at the moment.  It's a slow job, as much because even half a barrow is heavy and needs to be taken to the lower part of the garden I'm dumping it in.

I didn't expect to come across yet another land drain (theres another in the background).  Clearly this area's been soggy for a long time.  Pity the Victorian gardeners didn't get more organic matter and grit in as well, because really embedding a pipe in a block of waterproof material was never going to work.

Pleasant surprise - Mooncoin turned up for a chat.

This afternoon we took A to Picton Gardens - a small local garden/nursery that hosts the National Collection of Michaelmas Daisies.  See extra...

PS. The upturned end of the pipe is just to mark the end for when I fill over it, so I don't try planting into it.