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Giant pizza wheel?

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  • @finnbleK1xeTuT- Keep going, I know it's unbelievable hard work, but don't give up. Just do the target day by day and give yourself a treat after each day's work. At some point, you have reached half of the garden and you are over the hill and then there will be the moment when you really do the last bit. You will be rewarded and so pleased with yourself once it's finished.
    Please take pictures and share it with us.

    PS: when I took out the mess in our neglected garden, once the ground was cleared of the first 10 inches, a neighbour had a concrete roll and I thought I could flatten the ground. It was a lesson I had to learn. Not only that it was so heavy that I couldn't move it, I had to pay my garden chap to bring it to the waste side.
    I ended up with my knees on the dry clay soil, hammering for hours (5 or 6) with claw hammer to get the clay soil broken and flat.
    Thank you so much for the encouragement.  And you're right, it really does help when I start calculating the fraction of garden I've already worked over.  I am starting to make visible progress.  I'll get a photo this weekend, so long as there's no more torrential rain.  The garden has been disguising itself as a pond recently!
  • @finnbleK1xeTuT- I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year's party. How far have you come with the recent warmer weather (hopefully also for you)?

    I my garden.

  • I bought myself a ground breaker spade a couple of years ago - Burgon and Ball, I think - as we have very stony ground. The unexpected benefit is it is fabulous for lifting turf versus a conventional spade. The point really makes a difference and reduces the effort required. 
  • @finnbleK1xeTuT- I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year's party. How far have you come with the recent warmer weather (hopefully also for you)?
    I have made some progress, thank you so much for asking.  I will take a photo when the weather isn't quite so bad.  I say progress, but actually it looks like I'm trying to recreate WW1 out there now that the rain is filling up every low spot.  Having peeled away a top layer of vegetation I've discovered a deeply tenacious cotoneaster that is really difficult to dig out, but maybe I'll invest in one of these spades that Rachel recommends.
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    One of the best tools for breaking up compacted soil / removing roots is a mattock. You can get one quite cheaply from Screwfix or similar. 

    Just be aware it can be quite tough on your arms & shoulders.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
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