03 Apr 2007
Digging lessons
My parents visited at the weekend, and it was great to see them. When they came up last time, it was an emergency visit to see me in hospital, so it was lovely to spend time with them in much more relaxed circumstances.
During the week, Mr. Bsag started taking the turf off the rather pointless little bit of lawn we have in the middle of our garden. He was only going to strip a test piece back to see what the soil was like underneath, but when I came home, the entire lawn was gone, and half of the soil was dug over. He never does things by halves... We've begun to realise just how much time it's going to take to sort out enough of the allotment to house all of our seedlings, so we decided -- as a temporary measure -- to set up a couple of raised beds in the garden for the overspill. Eventually, we're going to make a wildlife pond in the garden, but it will take a while to get the time and money to do that.
Anyway, my parents are keen gardeners, so they helped me tidy things up a bit on Sunday. There really are an extraordinary number of very prickly plants in the garden, so every move we made in trying to prune things back was accompanied by little yelps of pain. Backing into a berberis is not to be recommended.
Dad gave me digging lessons, and (as usual) he's absolutely right -- it is easier when you do it his way. That's just as well, because we've got tens of square metres of fairly heavy soil to dig on the allotment.
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Inkygirl: Ours is quite small, too, but well stocked with quite nice plants, for which we have to thank the previous owners. Sorry about the comment: Akismet can sometimes get a bit baffled, but I don't think it was the link (other comments with links come through fine). I allowed the comment manually and slapped Akismet on the wrist for not showing it through
by bsag @ 03/04/2007 9:57 pm • Permalink
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Traditionally this time of year with pruning and spring shrub clearing seems to be more of a pagan blood sacrifice than a profesional work moment on my part. I manage to saw, clip and poke myself bloody almost everyday. I hate any and all roses, they up my blood loss to possible emergency acute transfusion necesity. My customers hear more ritual american cursing than on a normal gangsta` rap disc. I suppose I should wear gloves and a hockey mask but what the hey I´m a guy! This yearly ritual of blood sacrifice in the spring soil has left me wondering if I´m indulging in a druidic, Mithras or mayan rite. Jung anyone? I am also consumed by possible guilt that my yearly blood loss is the ACTUAL cause of global warming. And I used to be squeamish at the sight of my own blood.by jc. @ 05/04/2007 8:39 am • Permalink
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So what was the lesson? I'd love to know. The soil in my garden was very badly compacted and full of stones/rubbish/etc. - it used to be a building site. I started my digging with a shiny new garden spade - which was next to useless as I could hardly persuade the blade to penetrate more than an inch into the soil. I switched to a pointy shovel - which was better but because the shovel is wide it was backbreaking work trying to move the soil. Finally, I moved to a fork - which worked just fine - no problem penetrating the soil - very little resistence in the soil - it broke up the ground quite well - and then I was able to dig to my heart's content. I went about 9 inches into the ground and mixed in compost/manure.by Ger @ 06/04/2007 12:47 pm • Permalink
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j.c.: Sounds like you don't need to use the blood, fish and bonemeal fertilizer, anyway! Ger: I think you're probably better off with a fork if the ground is very compacted and stony. Dad's techinique is like this: you work the spade in, rocking it gently from side to side and back to front as you press down with your foot. Then, when you've got the spade in to its full depth, you lever down gently to lift the soil, and just flick it over without lifting the spade. I was trying to lift and flip, which was heavy going with a full spade-full. Then you just chop the clod of mud up with the blade of the spade. It's simple enough, but I was making a meal of it and working harder than I needed to.by bsag @ 06/04/2007 4:16 pm • Permalink
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Ah - I see - definitely sounds like the right way to do things, perhaps next year or so when the ground is a little more 'groundesque' and not a stoney patch. Thanksby Ger @ 10/04/2007 12:28 pm • Permalink
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Your garden sounds absolutely wonderful; I'm jealous. Ours is a city garden so small that there isn't even any grass (front or back). My husband wants to put IN a small patch of grass that he could mow with a manual-type mower because it's something he could never do when we lived in a condo. Looks like my last comment was swallowed as spam. :-( Apologies for the link, if that's what caused it!by Inkygirl @ 03/04/2007 8:53 pm • Permalink