Box leveling completed!

Earlier this week I posted about the bamboo planter box project I started. Because I hadn't taken the time to build it right the first time, the box had settled on the slope and was no longer level.

The project had stretched out over several days, as I was only spending an hour or so each morning before things got too hot. Well, I've finally finished this project! The photo above is where I left things at the end of the previous post.

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The first step in this final work session was to scrape the soil flat. There were still some uneven spots, and I wanted to ensure that the base would be as level as possible.

That took just a couple of minutes, and it was time to lay the base back down:

My fear was that as it was being lowered it would break, but the landscape block adhesive held and there were no other problems (like pinched fingers).

The box came next:

It wasn't too heavy, but it was awkward getting it back into position. Still though, not too difficult.

What a relief that everything was still level!

The final step was to reinstall the pond liner material I used to keep the soil from contacting the wood. There were lots of staples left in it from when I pulled it out last summer...

...but it was fewer than I expected and this didn't take long to remove them.

Somehow the liner is smaller now than it was before:

So I had to add a scrap piece to cover the gap. I may have had to do this last time, but I don't remember. (It seems more likely than the rubber having shrunk so much).

I did shovel in a few inches of the soil that I previously removed just to get it out of the area and to keep the box from shifting, but the box is mostly empty and ready for a new bamboo now!

Incidentally, I still haven't made a final choice on the species to plant here. I believe I've narrowed it down to a choice between Phyllostachys heteroclada and Phyllostachys virella. Since I have managed to strain my hip somehow in the last week or so there's no heavy lifting for me for a while, so I have more time to decide before planting.

It bothers me that this job wasn't even on my list of projects to tackle in 2013. I was hoping to cross something off that list today. 

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