I just have to learn to be smarter. I can do practically anything but I have to mete it out in small portions. It's hard when it just doesn't hurt, isn't tiring, seems easy!
I didn't really think I had dug that much, but actually, over the last couple days I must have...this plastic pond is like 4.5' long, maybe more, and look at this:
I am apparently almost there. Zounds. I do have to dig the deep part still, but basically the rest of the thing is dug. The deep part is very little (maybe a fourth?) of the actual surface area. I think it'll only be one or two digging sessions. The gravel might make it difficult, though.
Once I got the process going, it went very quickly.
This does not mean the digging is over, not by a long shot--after my headache backs off for a day or two. I will spend that time researching. My newest worry is backfill. How do I fill in around the sides if I have dug too much away from them? It has that pesky lip there. Also, I think I will need to use a level to make sure that the pond tilts ever so slightly away from the retaining wall, so that I can control the inevitable overflow into a little [mostly dry and scenic] "creekbed" that wends across the yard and out the side.
So I'm sidelining today.
The peas are getting huge. I looked up "pinching peas back" and, although they are very young and are still inside and in planting cells, I decided to do it. Well, I did half of them. Don't want to ruin the whole crop, just in case. But they do need to get outside fairly soon...before they take over the indoor world. Frankenpeas! They already have tendrils, which makes me think they need to be outside hanging onto wire fencing.
The beans are no slouches, either, although oddly enough, two of them sprouted upside down. I noticed that they had bizarre formations where leaves should be, and eventually I realized those were roots! In the immediate foreground you can see the two, after I got them out of the soil and planted them right side up. I have no idea what will become of them.
You can see a syringe in the lower right section of that picture, a huge syringe for force-feeding sick puppies. I have been using it to water the seedlings.
Here are a couple pictures just for fun...completely off the topic. One is pretty hilarious; it's one normal egg, two pullets' eggs, and two "fart eggs."
The smallest one is about an inch long and fits into the bowl of a 1/2 TEASPOON measure. I think its contents would probably fill the one teaspoon, but it's the size and shape of the half.
Finally, here are the dogs drinking raw goats' milk:
About backfill: how heavy is that pool liner? I would just lower it in there every so often, to see how much more you have to dig. If its that heavy I can come help~~~
ReplyDeleteNo, not heavy; I can manipulate it by myself. It's just awkward. I was thinking of just pressing downward to kind of make an imprint on the soil, and then digging that part up. Sound right?
DeleteOH! But you can come help anytime anyhow!
Delete