Call this gardening?

This is more like quarrying.  All I wanted to do was dig about six feet of soil down the edge of the walnut path.

It’s an extension of the path that already has hornbeam and rosa rugosa plants all alive and almost thriving. A mole came through here in spring and nicely undermined most of the roots.

But now that they are safely settled, I want to plant four more small trees to add to the curve.

And hours later I had quarried up more rocks than I have ever seen on this farm.  More rock than soil in fact. So you can tell this is a well drained area.  I had to use two sacks of bought in compost just to fill the void left by all the rocks.

But that’s fine, I’ve recycled the lot. The rocks are going to build up a slope in the shade garden edge, and the blue Ikea bag full of grass and weed will go on top to build up the level.

I am saving up for a thrilling trip to the plant nursery next week.  This is the season to plant trees here; the soil is still warm so plants will keep growing, and then hopefully get their winter wet to the roots.   We had half an inch of rain in the past month. So I am yearning for more.

The soil at the bottom of this bank was dry as dust.