Dug a hole today. Man is it dry..........

[tinknal]

Playing with my back hoe today. Dug a hole about 8' deep. Dry as dust right to the bottom. Soil is about 6" of topsoil, another foot of topsoil/clay mix, and the rest clay.

[moonwolf]

sounds similar to here. It rained 1.5 inches a few days ago. First significan rainfall in about 6 weeks. My neighbor dug down about 10 ft. putting in new water lines and what not. Even after the rain, there was NO mud anywhere. Looking down in the trench it was dust dry all the way down. The ground just sucked it in like a sponge.
Not as bad as last year since we had heavy June rains, but it's starting to show. No grass growing, no mowing for weeks.

[blufford]

I don't know if clay is a good pond bottom or not.

[hillsidedigger]

The local paper today reemphasized this this is the driest spell here in recorded history. At my place it has not rained as much as 1.5" in 24 hours since early April and that rain in early April was from the front that brought in the severe late freeze.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by blufford

I don't know if clay is a good pond bottom or not.

Clay makes an excellent pond bottom, but I'm digging a garbage pit..............LOL

But I am thinking of digging a pond.

[RedneckPete]

Originally Posted by tinknal

... but I'm digging a garbage pit...

Why do that? Burn the garbage and bring the rest to the local dump.

I dig for a living, and have these exclusions in every quote I send.

"Removal of buried concrete, asphalt or garbage is not included in the above quote. If the above are encountered their removal will result in extra charges."

Pete

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by RedneckPete

Why do that? Burn the garbage and bring the rest to the local dump.

I dig for a living, and have these exclusions in every quote I send.

"Removal of buried concrete, asphalt or garbage is not included in the above quote. If the above are encountered their removal will result in extra charges."

Pete

Why would I need to hire an excavator when I have my own back hoe?

[Kazahleenah]

We had 3 days of drizzling rain last week. I hand dug a fencepost hole today. "Need" 5 more... but the ground was so dry and hard (and clay and gravel) I may only get two or so done a day at that rate. I did get the new buck pen built in the back section of the barn made today, so that's a plus. But those holes are gonna bust my can.

Kaza

[fordy]

Originally Posted by Kazahleenah

We had 3 days of drizzling rain last week. I hand dug a fencepost hole today. "Need" 5 more... but the ground was so dry and hard (and clay and gravel) I may only get two or so done a day at that rate. I did get the new buck pen built in the back section of the barn made today, so that's a plus. But those holes are gonna bust my can.

Kaza

..............Dig down a foot or so and , then , fill each hole with water and allow it too soak in. Repeat as often as it will keep being absorbed into the soil . Rule #2 , you must consume 1 Margarita per hole per day too relieve tension and holler "Viva Poncho Villa" , LOL . , fordy

[Ramblin Wreck]

My oldest brother and I (finally) convinced my younger brother that we needed to take down some big trees that were in the way of a new fence line. We worked for hours with a backhoe and a loader to get those trees down. We dug down 3-4 feet around the root balls and still struggled to push them over, and we were pushing downhill! We were filthy little rats from the dust storm we created too. Still, the fence has a clear site line now with no trees (God willing) likely to fall on it after we complete the project.

[Ohiogal]

I dug a few post holes earlier this month. I had to water the holes for 3 days straight to get the post hole digger in there and get the job done. My area of Ohio has only had 2" of rain since June. Before that, we didn't get much since the end of March. We are in a serious drought now.

[turtlehead]

I pulled some weeds in the garden and the rootballs were just dusty.

I also pulled some corn stalks that didn't do anything, and fed them to the rabbits. Again, in the roots - just dust.

I'm sure glad I'm not digging holes. Yikes.

[fishhead]

We're dry as dust here too. Last night we got 1+" of rainfall but that won't do much more than wet the topsoil for a while.

I'm planning on driving a sandpoint soon and I think I will flood the area to soften the clay first. I have to go through 2 clay layers. One is 10' and the other is 15'.

[RedneckPete]

Originally Posted by tinknal

Why would I need to hire an excavator when I have my own back hoe?

Why would you bury your garbage just because you can?

Each to his own. I wouldn't turn my property into a garbage dump even if I could.

Pete