Friday, September 2, 2016

Breakin' Sod

It might have been harder to do with horse and plow, but Papa Pea will attest to the fact that working up this new piece of ground was something he wouldn't want to do all day long.

We've started getting a new area ready for relocating the raspberry patch next spring.  The ground breaking would have been better done this past spring, but somehow many other tasks rose to the top of The List that were deemed more important.

No matter, we've finally gotten around to it now and will do the best we can.


The area in question has been (what we laughingly call) lawn area covered with heavy sod.  Getting a start by plowing up the sod with our old faithful Gravely garden tractor with plow attachment is the beginning.

Not only was the sod like plowing through tangled wire, but the addition of rocks . . . 


. . . and rocks


. . . and more rocks made the going less than smooth.  (Not exactly black loam, is it?)


We're making the area big enough for not only the new raspberry plants, but also some other berry bushes we want to try. 

Another big plus to getting this area worked up and into production is that it will mean less lawn area to keep mowed.  Neither hubby nor I list lawn mowing as a favorite summer sport.


Not done by a long shot, but it's a start.

22 comments:

DFW said...

That looks like a good size plot. Good luck getting all those rocks out.

Susan said...

Whatzamatta? You and Papa Pea have an extra 30 minutes on your hands? :) xoxo

Vera said...

Our land is full or river stones which have to be cleared before we can get the rotovator on to it. But good job, and looking forward to seeing what you plant in the space.

Sparkless said...

Oh my that's a lot of rocks! We have that kind of soil too but our rocks are huge ones that you can't move which makes it tough to dig anything up by hand.

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

Holy moly, you do have a lot of rocks! Nothing like that bone crushing lurch when you get to a rock with your rototiller!! -Jenn

Mama Pea said...

DFW - We were going to have a rock picking party (ha!) this afternoon, but then the temp soared higher than forecast and it was very hot out there again. So looks as though we may be laboring on the rock pile over Labor Day!

Mama Pea said...

Susan - If we could have gotten it done in 30 minutes, that would have been wonderful! ;o}

Mama Pea said...

Vera - Rocks and weeds! The bane of a gardener's existence. :o(

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - We've encountered a few of those awful big ones on our property, too. One my hubby moved by breaking it apart into pieces we could get out of the hole!

Mama Pea said...

Jenn - Yep, and you always fear you're gonna do harm to the tiller. Ugh.

Laurie said...

Lordy, where do y'all get all that energy? Never mind, I know how it is when you're doing something you love.

Sue said...

I'm with you on the whole lawn mowing thing--I DESPISE mowing --the noise, the stench of exhaust ( the tractor, dear lady!) the mindless back and forth. Ugh! I'm always rather glad we spend most of our summer in drought--less mowing.
Good luck on the new project. We're doing the same--making a raspberry patch. More garden--always a good thing!!
:)

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

We have the same issue - rocks. I plan on planting more raspberry plants too. Yum!

Mama Pea said...

Laurie - Yep, at the end of the day we wonder just where the time went . . . and why we feel so pooped! ;o}

Mama Pea said...

Sue - Our present raspberry patch is not only on the way out, but the berries have never been very sweet. 'Course, we purchased the plants way-back-when so we're hoping to find some of the newer varieties that "guarantee" more sweetness. Care to share what you're getting?

Mama Pea said...

Kristina - Sounds like 2017 will be a raspberry year for a bunch of us bloggers!

Bobbie said...

Oh, now I feel better after reading your post and all the comments. I thought we were the only ones with rocks headaches. I've been pulling ours out of just our 1/3rd acre garden for over a year now. Would you believe I have SIX 5-gallon buckets full of those buggers? And trust me, there are plenty still sitting there, laughing at me. Ugh!
This looks like a very nice spot for your new berry patch. Have fun working on it -- been there, done that. I look at it this way: Good job security ! Hey, if I didn't laugh about the darn things, I'd have to cry.
I'm going to take all the rocks down to the river and put them back where they belong.
One day at a time - we'll all get there eventually.
Happy Day To You ~ Bobbie

Mama Pea said...

Bobbie - What I find amazing about the rock situation is that every single spring when I work the soil and plant, I seem to find just as many rocks to remove as the year before! How can that be? Either we're growing rocks . . . or by removing them we just make more room for others to move up to the surface!

Oh well, the bending and hauling gives our muscles great exercise and saves the cost of a gym membership. Right? Right?? ;o}

Fiona said...

Are you going to put a cover crop on it for winter?

Mama Pea said...

Fiona - I think we'll just get some organic fertilizer worked in for this year. Although sowing something like winter rye wouldn't be a bad idea . . .

Rain said...

Wow, that is a ton of work, that machine doesn't look too easy to push, especially with the rocks in the way! I remember trying to transplant just one square food of grass to an area that was bare and OMG...it was one of the most difficult and HEAVY tasks I'd undertaken. What other berry bushes are you thinking about? Speaking of berries, our late harvest of strawberries...drumroll...NINE!!! That makes a total of fourteen berries this year, woohoo! ;)

Mama Pea said...

Rain - Fourteen berries this year!? (Better than zero.)

We want to try a blackberry that is suppose to grow in our area and some goji berries . . . NO more haskap berries, thankyouverymuch! :o}