Disabled digging

[JohnD]

I have some lower limb injuries, and am pretty ineffective with an ordinary spade. I can dig my friable beds that I have improved with lots of compost, but not hard flinty clay.

I am very dissatisfied with my hard, lumpy lawn and would like to dig it over and lay some grit and compost to lighten the top layer. But I can't get a spade or fork into it.

Luckily it is very small. Apart from hacking it up with a pickaxe, are there other ways I could tackle it?

 

[Thermo]

a mattock is a very effective tool and can be used mainly by the arms if need be, but not as hard to use as a pick, however it would be easier to hire out a small cultivator/rotovator for a morning to do it (im assuming you are mobile and can walk etc) You would be better waiting till the ground is softer though

 

[joe-90]

How about putting a sprinkler on it overnight? Then use a fork?

 

[JohnD]

a mattock is a very effective tool and can be used mainly by the arms if need be, but not as hard to use as a pick, however it would be easier to hire out a small cultivator/rotovator for a morning to do it (im assuming you are mobile and can walk etc) You would be better waiting till the ground is softer though

Yes, I can walk about (bit Lurch-like ) and do most things, just a bit low on strength and agility. Can a Cultivator get its teeth into hard packed flinty clay? If it can break it up I can shovel it about. I don't know a way of getting flints out other than a hand sieve, which is backbreaking work.

I used to build up the surface and texture of the beds with old horse manure, could afford to do that and leave the lawn to settle through the winter if necessary. Otherwise I am thinking about top-dressing with gritty sand.

 

[JohnD]

How about putting a sprinkler on it overnight? Then use a fork?

My garden... put a sprinkler on it overnight... then use a slightly smaller pickaxe

 

[Thermo]

john, yes it will, it might make your arms ache after a little bit, but they are excellent at breaking up the soil. Can need a bit of patience to get through the top couple of inches, but once thye get going they are great. Leave the hose running on the area overnight as suggested

 

[splinter]

Would it be possible just to level a couple of inches of top soil straight over the lawn,if it is anything like the lawns down here in Kent it should look a bit burnt and short ,especially with the hose-pipe ban we have here

 

[JohnD]

Would it be possible just to level a couple of inches of top soil straight over the lawn,if it is anything like the lawns down here in Lebanon it should look a bit burnt and short, especially with the hose-pipe ban we have here

I think I need to skim off the top as well as breaking the pan. As well as being bumpy it is (notionally) flush with the patio and path, so I will want to bring it back to the same height.

(No hose pipe ban here thanks to the South Downs and subterranean watercourses into the sea.)

 

[WabbitPoo]

If you hire a Rotavator make sure its one of the big vbeefy ones (the ones you can hardly move without the engine). On hard clay, even after souaking, a lightweight cultivator wont penetrate far enough - it'll just skip off the surface. I take it that you can skim off the turf with the mattock and then apply new top soil to a few inches?

 

[JohnD]

I take it that you can skim off the turf with the mattock and then apply new top soil to a few inches?

thanks for your interest...

The grounds's a bit hard for skimming... can I rotavate it to break it up, then shovel away a couple of inches which I then make up with a gritty mix?

 

[ModernMaterials]

i hope you dont think im being facetious cus i aint...
is it vital that it is done quickly?...cus when you said spade and difficult, i thought of the half-sized bedding spade i have

hit the ground with the corner of your spade and it goes


the same spade can also lift loose dirt

 

[JohnD]

Its OK...
No hurry. The problem is that I stand with almost all my weight on one foot, so I can't push on a spade and stand up at the same time

Both legs are damaged so I'm not much good at doing things with my feet. One ankle is damaged more than the other so troublesome for pushing down on a spade, and gets rather painful. The soil is so hard that a spade won't penetrate it. Even a fork only goes in an inch or so. I like the sound of a cultivator as being less work than a pick or mattock.

I can get around on the flat without much more than a limp or a lurch, though.