My hands are shaking. Yesterday I dug out enough sod to plant thyme in the front lawn. I did too much and my arms ached and shook, and I'm back in the thumb brace. Today, when I started feeling stressed again, I put it all away and called it good. Well, I did three more shovelsfull, but mostly. I work a physical job, but this is an entirely different set of muscles and rate of exertion. Lots of stones and a number of nails, this is not a garden that was ever prepared properly, even I can tell. I'm sifting it through the dog/baby gate left by POs.
Using the shovel they also left behind.
Lots of stones, and concrete, a few old nails.
Familiar to any of you? I knew it immediately, and there is still a coal room behind it. When I was a kid, still had a coal furnace, and I took my turn stoking it, and shaking the ash from the damper. I was about 15 before I realized that not all boogers were black.
3 comments:
I think a garden fork will help your muscles acclimate to the new kind of work. I use mine to break up the compacted soil, then use a garden rake to break up the clods. (I pretend, sometimes, that the clods I'm breaking into bits are the few human clods I have a hard time with.)
Your soil looks like it might need some sand and humus to help it along. Otherwise, it looks rich; should grow all sorts of things in it.
Here's to your thumbs turning a lovely shade of green!
Crow,
It's just another in such a long string of expenses, I'm putting it off a while.
Good luck getting the ground all sorted. It is definitely not a trivial task.
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