Earning its keep

"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck) 11/27/2015 at 16:50 • Filed to: None

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One cubic yard. The first load was a little lighter. This is what happens when my wife wants to “extend the flower bed just a bit.” Two afternoons of sod removal and prep. One afternoon of moving in good dirt. What lies below is a hard pan of impenetrable clay. Now to sit back and enjoy the rest of the vacation. What’s that? You want new edging and new mulch and perhaps to move the bush and put up the Christmas tree and the lights?

Sigh.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > TheRealBicycleBuck 11/27/2015 at 17:49

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It’s a good time to move bushes now, so get to it! If that clay pan extends outwards from the flower bed into turfed area you may want to dig a French drain (basically a bore hole through the clay and packed with gravel) to avoid drainage issues. Better to do not now than realise that you should’ve done it later.

PS. Nice long handled shovel

TheRealBicycleBuck > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 11/27/2015 at 17:59

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Thanks! I installed a French drain in the side yard a couple years ago. It wasn’t what is call fun.

Standard practice for beds around here is make a mound of soil and plant what you want in it. We plan to clean out a bed that has gone a bit wild and transplant a bunch of roses into it. The front bed is getting gardenias and some annuals in front of them. The hardest part is over. Planting in this fresh soil is easy.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > TheRealBicycleBuck 11/27/2015 at 18:24

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Ah well best of luck with it then. At least roses and annuals don’t have wild root systems. Get some good manure for those roses and they’ll thrive.

Stephen the Canuck > TheRealBicycleBuck 11/27/2015 at 18:26

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Hand her the shovel?

TheRealBicycleBuck > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 11/27/2015 at 19:27

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My wife has been using worm poop. Of the five roses we relocated last year, only one struggled. Thanks for the advice.

The French drain may become a necessity. I’m hoping to convince her to get gutters instead. I’d like to shunt the water from the roof to a different part of the yard.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Stephen the Canuck 11/27/2015 at 19:28

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Hilarious.