June 11, 2017, 01:37 PM
ensigmaticThree Hours In the Bloody Hot Sun, and...
There's this raised garden along the west side of the house, using peeler core. When we replaced it
all, a couple years ago, I decided I wasn't foolin' around. Bought three foot pieces of rebar, drilled holes in the bottom course, and drove 'em in. I did not want that thing moving.
It moved, anyway.
Clay. Sucks.
Problem was there are a couple 180° pop-up misters just in front of that thing, and now they weren't popping up so well. Today was remediation day. Three hours digging up the two heads to reposition them and adding a mid-span tie-back to the raised garden. Three hours in the bloody hot sun.
But got 'er done. Yay, right?
Put everything away, fired up the zone and...
WTF?!?! One of the heads is blowing mist
straight up.
*sigh* Turns out part of the head is missing. (I thought it looked a bit odd as I was re-positioning it, but, carried on.)
Deactivate the zone again. I get to dig that head out
all over again. And, of course, it's in a low spot, so, when I pull the head off the line water fills the hole. Clay. Did I mention it was clay? Yeah, it's clay.
God, I fracking hate clay.
June 11, 2017, 01:40 PM
bcereussquote:
Originally posted by ensigmatic:
There's this raised garden along the west side of the house, using peeler core. When we replaced it all, a couple years ago, I decided I wasn't foolin' around. Bought three foot pieces of rebar, drilled holes in the bottom course, and drove 'em in. I did not want that thing moving.
It moved, anyway.
Clay. Sucks.
Problem was there are a couple 180° pop-up misters just in front of that thing, and now they weren't popping up so well. Today was remediation day. Three hours digging up the two heads to reposition them and adding a mid-span tie-back to the raised garden. Three hours in the bloody hot sun.
But got 'er done. Yay, right?
Put everything away, fired up the zone and...
WTF?!?! One of the heads is blowing mist straight up.
*sigh* Turns out part of the head is missing. (I thought it looked a bit odd as I was re-positioning it, but, carried on.)
Deactivate the zone again. I get to dig that head out all over again. And, of course, it's in a low spot, so, when I pull the head off the line water fills the hole. Clay. Did I mention it was clay? Yeah, it's clay.
God, I fracking hate clay.
Someone here years ago summed it quite accurately: "Digging clay is like digging bubblegum."
June 11, 2017, 01:48 PM
ensigmaticquote:
Originally posted by bcereuss:
Someone here years ago summed it quite accurately: "Digging clay is like digging bubblegum."
Oh, that's when it's wet. When it's dry it's like digging concrete.
Before I bought this house I researched ground, soil and topographical information. (Got an engineering mindset.) USGS soil survey said "predominantly sandy loam." Sandy loam is great stuff.
Yeah, right.
Occasionally we hit sandy loam in our yard. Beautiful stuff. Mostly it's just fracking clay.
When we had a new well put in some fifteen or twenty years ago, well man remarked that it went from brown clay straight to blue clay, and stayed blue clay until he hit an aquifer at 120 feet.
Sandy loam my sweet ass!
June 11, 2017, 02:08 PM
PHPaulI feel ya.
I live on an old stream delta and the topsoil is actually pretty nice. Damn nice in some spots.
Down a foot is red sand.
Down another foot is pin gravel. This is a sandy gravel/clay mix with pea-sized stone that compacts to roughly the compressive strength of the Hoover Dam.
Under that is blue clay. When it's wet, it makes teflon look positively abrasive. When it's dry, it makes diamonds look like marshmallows.
Evil, nasty stuff.
June 11, 2017, 03:03 PM
cheesegritsWe sit on clay, too, and it's awful. Our clay is red and stains everything from siding to socks.
June 11, 2017, 03:13 PM
Skins2881I'm lucking I have clay AND shale. It's like playing the lottery. I am happy as can be when I hit clay. Rocks vary in size from grape to watermelon size.
June 11, 2017, 03:13 PM
ugeestaYup. Fixing a couple broken lines this weekend too. Beneath the 3/4" of top soil the landscaper put down under the sod is Brown Clay. to make it worse, the areas next to the driveway have rock and gravel mixed in.
ugh....