Sigh... this is going to take ages to mix in the Gymsum and Soil Improver... I'm eventually going also add in the horse or sheep manure when we get it shipped in, but for the moment... it is going to be turning the top 10-20 centimetres of the hard clay soil, mixing in the two additives to help break up the clay and then doing this quite a few more times throughout the year. It is going to be a really slow process... it isn't quite like Animal Crossing, where you just click an action and poof, it is done! Although... I really wish that it was like that!... plus, it is complicated by the really large area that needs to be done.

My wife has designated this are to be the first area of concern... and that means that I'm going to be turning this heavy earth for the next few months. It had just rained lightly, so that made it a good deal easier to turn the soil... I didn't want heavy waterlogged soil, and the dry stuff is really quite difficult to get the pitchfork in.

Whilst I'm going at it, I'm also removing the rocks that were also churned to the surface when the excavator dug the trenches in this area. At least the soil has stopped seeping into the gravel and so we don't need to barrow in extra soil from the back... that soil can now be used to fill out and level other parts of the garden.

So, the reason that this area is more of a priority than the rest is due to the fact that it is now a quite denuded patch that is facing one of the roads... which means that there is clear line of sight and little privacy into our carport area... not really a huge problem, but my wife isn't that keen on it. So, we have already started to plant the fast growing natives that should provide a shield... I still think that we need to have a few more planted... but my wife insists that we should fix the soil first. The three that I planted earlier seem to be doing fine, and are already pushing out new shoots... so, I think that it should be fine to plant a few more, but I'm not the boss. But to be honest, maybe they will grow faster if the soil was fixed... maybe.

I did recently learn my lesson and switch to the pitchfork for the clay earth breaking and turning... I managed to snap a wooden handle of a spade whilst trying to leaver out the earth... plus, the shovel ends up getting out a large clump of earth, whilst the pitchfork turns much smaller chunks. I think I'm going to pick up another pitchfork in the near future (along with a wooden handle for this spade head)... that way I can leave one in the woodchip pile and have the other near the earth turning... sure, it is only about a ten metre walk between the two (at the moment), but that is still annoying to do... and if there are two of us working, one of the earth and another on the mulching, then there is a battle over the garden tool of choice!

Thankfully, there are a good amount of earthworms in the soil helping to also break up the clay earth... between the little guys and myself, I think that we should have this place sorted out within a few years! I'm also keen to get some plants down and have those things help out as well...

... it is quite funny, I think that all the birds in the area know that when they see me or my father-in-law out in the garden, they are going to be due for a nice feed!

Meanwhile, I also enlisted the help of my two girls to get to work on weeding the exposed patches of softer earth. Actually, it is something that they seem to enjoy doing together... and feeding the mulcher with large branches, bark, and twigs are also quite fun for them (under supervision, of course!).

I will have to buy them some gumboots though... the wet clay soil/mud is really not great for their everyday shoes... I'm going to have to do some explaining to my wife about that.

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