Patio Project Day Two

Well, today was day number two.

Again, my ambition was a bit more than my capacity to shovel dirt.

I was able to dig out the rest of the patio area next to the sliding doors. This certainly was the hardest part to dig out. The sprinkler soaked dirt was a bit easier to dig out, but there were still some sections that took a lot of work to chip away 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch of soil. The dirt was so hard that when you did manage to slice off a small chunk, the shovel left a shiny, mirror-like finish on the remaining dirt. This is not your mom's potting soil.

It also happened to rain last night, and rained off and on throughout the day. Not only did that make digging in the mud a little less fun, it also meant that the light and fluffy soil I'd tilled the day before had turned into a very gooey, waffle batter-like layer of sludge.

Long story short, I ended up digging out and carting away over 2 cubic yards of dirt. That's half a 11 foot diameter circle, 4 inches deep. That's over 5000 pounds of soil. I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

I figure the rest of the digging will go much faster because I won't have to deal with the super-hard soil. Hopefully things will dry out a bit so I may have the chance to use the rototiller again.

What does one do with a bunch of extra soil? Mound it up in the corner of the yard that slopes off sharply, right behind the tiny little playhouse we never use. I almost started tearing that thing down, but figured I shouldn't get too distracted. I've already got a pretty big pile of boards and clipped branches that need to be hauled off to the dump - a few more boards wouldn't have mattered.

But, back to the soil, we might need to put a retaining wall in on the south-west corner. For now the dirt will just sit there, unrestrained. Like my appetite for blueberry peach cobbler (yes, I ate the last bit tonight).