Becky and I are frantically trying to get enough garden space ready to plant out all of the seedlings that are coming up. We pulled back another swath of black polythene and I went at it with the shovel, as usual, breaking the clay open so we can add gypsum, lime and compost.
It all came to a halt when my shovel found a vein of sandstone just near the surface. Not broken up sandstone, but a single, solid mass.
There’s only one option at a time like this: Pick axe.
When I bought this pick axe from a garage sale for NZ$2, I sincerely hoped that I would never have to use it. But when you need a pick axe, you really need it.
Used pick axe: NZ$2. And the less I have to use it, the better!
As I gazed upon the scene above, I thought about my past life in the doomed corporate IT world. When asked, “How’s it going, today, Kevin?” by “Bob in Marketing”—I’m sure you know people like “Bob in Marketing”—my favorite response was, “Just breaking rocks all day, Bob, as usual.” I guess the Universe got me back for using that one a few too many times!
[…] The next area of garden to be developed is to the north of the house. We do not anticipate finishing work on that area this year. We have made some vegetable beds there already, but will need to spend some time extending and improving them next spring. Our plans for that area of the yard include more olive trees along the fence line, and various kinds of berries and small fruit on the slope between the vegetable gardens and the house. We’ll see whether we end up sticking to these plans or not. There are some big chunks of sandstone lurking beneath the lawn in that part of the yard that might cause us to modify our plans considerably. […]