Yesterday in my rototiller post I mentioned that we are installing a new garden in an area that once was an old horse pasture. It is also next to the area where the leach field is for our newly installed septic system. The system was installed only few weeks before we moved in to the new house. There were a couple of snows during that time period, which meant the large backhoe loader was driving around on moist soil and providing immense compaction.
It is easy to tell where the loader was driving, because the rototiller cannot till those areas. Along the fence is easy tilling, but the path where the loader drove is tough. The tiller just scalps at the surface of the ground and pulls me along. I’m having to resort to using my shovel to dig this ground up by hand.
It looks like a lot of work, and it is, but it really is quite enjoyable. I call it my country-boy’s gym membership.
Another important point to mention has to do with the blade of the shovel. I’ve read many times in gardening books that sharp tools make a big difference. I took my angle grinder to that shovel and put a sharp edge on it and boy did things get easier. I couldn’t believe it. And to think about all those years of my youth, digging with a dull shovel!
Thanks, Robert.
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