at least it's not toxic

[solarbird]

You know your garden's soil is garbage when you're digging and get down to the glacial regolith and say "Oh thank god, it'll be so much easier now..."

AND IT IS.

In related news, check out my new weather station on its new post! ^_^



See all those rocks off to the side? All those were what was under about 2-3cm of soil, going down about... a foot.

It's like that everywhere. It just is. I dug that 28" hole with a trowel (that I broke, not bent, broke) and a dandelion puller I used as a drill. Shovels and posthole diggers? Useless.

Comments

[kathmandu]

That kind of thing is why New England is full of stone walls: made from stones dug up in the course of planting.

[solarbird]

I went to school in New England, this is different. I don't mean "there's a lot of rocks in our soil," I mean, "below the top 3cm, it's literally just all rocks." Until you get to the glacial regolith.

_All_ rocks. Interlocking rocks. Like someone dumped a bunch of rocks. Which is what happened.

There is also some dirt! Between the rocks. But not much.

It really is just rocks.

[kathmandu]

Wow, I didn't realize. Is your place built on in-fill?

[solarbird]

It's a mix. Some of it's in-fill, most of it is dig-out!

The neighbourhood is from the 1950s and early 60s, right? But this lot was unbuildable for ages because it's too steep. Or it was until some people with more money than sense decided to build their dream house. But that's a whole other story I've already told before.

So there's a giant retaining wall in back, which is counterweighted by the foundation and house. Without that wall, the lowest level (garage/basement) has zero stairs in front, right? So that's the ground level in front.

Half above that is the ground floor, above that the main floor, above that the top floor, above that the attic.

Without the retaining wall, only the top floor would be above ground.

With the retaining wall, the main floor is ... about 2/3rds above ground.

So it's a mix, and a mess. Most of the front is fill. Some of the north side is fill, a lot is excavation. The south side is ... semi-natural at least in places. In back, it's... hard to say. I haven't done much digging. And I do not intend to. xD

[armiphlage]

Better to give up on the current soil, and just start dumping vegetable matter on top of the current mass?

[solarbird]

I was digging the hole for the post the weather station is on. Not really an option to do that with a raised bed.

[stickmaker]

As we used to say in the Highway Department "We'll have to blast."

[solarbird]

I regretted not having a sledge. But then I got through it and it was okay. ^_^

[stickmaker]

Most hardware sellers will have a spud bar. These are far better at breaking up layers of rock than a sledge hammer.

One example:

https://www.amazon.com/Bully-Tools-92539-Tamping-Digging/dp/B00KOMT36G/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=spud+bar&qid=1628475259&sr=8-2

[solarbird]

I used a pry bar - not exactly that kind, but a pry bar.

[stickmaker]

The advantage of a spud bar is that one end is tempered like a cold chisel. The other end can be used for tamping. You can also - of course - pry with it.

They're also good for _tetsuanbo_ training. ;-)

[solarbird]

That's good to know. I think I might get one. Thanks!

[corvi]

Oh hey that looks like the same weather station we have.

[solarbird]

Ambient Weather? Yeah, I'm really liking their kit.

With the OBSERVERIP you can monitor that station (rain, air direction, wind strength, temperature, humidity), an air quality sensor, an indoor barometric sensor that also reports temperature/humidity (as "indoor"), and eight other temperature/humidity stations. It's pretty great tbh.