Panning for dirt

Happy Labour Day. Before I go any further, there is a question I need to ask. How the hell can it be September? What the hell happened to the summer and all the projects I had planned. Never mind the jobs half done – what about the jobs never started? How did this happen?

Anyway, anyway… I hope all the workers out there had a relaxing day today. I did not – at least not what was left of the day after I woke up at 1pm. (Jeez.) I didn’t feel the least entitled to a relaxing day given all the days over the summer when I clearly was doing sweet fuck all. Instead I laboured on a small piece of a larger project (which I swear to god I will write about at some length another day.

If you’ve been following my misadventures for a while, you’ll know that there are three types of “soil” on Gabriola: boulder, rock and stone. Of course, holding all these together is a bit of dirt. Today I decided that in one particular place, I was going to remove the rocks and stones and pebbles by “panning” for said dirt.

It may not be obvious from this photo, but, after three hours of panning, this small area by the side of the house is now nothing but dirt to a depth of four inches. (Yes, yes, okay, there are still a few pebbles. Don’t be so bloody picky.) And if you think these two buckets represent the sum total of rocks, stones and pebbles removed, let me correct you: they are the seventh and eighth load.

Of course this “dirt” is bone dry and apt to blow away in a stiff breeze. There is also the strong likelihood that Stella, stumbling across this, will consider it a new outdoor litter box. So, before I do anything else I need to fill a watering can and get my dirt wet.

This operation attracts the attention of Roxie, fine-tuned as she is to water going on the ground anywhere. And of course nothing will do but lapping up some of the muddy water – despite the bowl full of clean water that is placed out for her on the kitchen floor.

Do not let this photo deceive you. There is no green algae in this water, nor is Roxie tinged a bit green. Trick of the light.

Clearly I can’t be wasting well water regularly on my bit of dirt, so to mark my territory against litter box intrusions, I stick a big plant protector in the middle.

And what exactly do I plan to do with my little dirt plot, you ask. Clearly this is Dust Bowl era dirt, unable to sustain life. No kidding.

But I do have a big old bag of soil supplement. I figure at a ratio of nine parts supplement to one part dirt, this little spot on my property could sustain… Oh, I don’t know what. Something deer won’t eat, which does limit my choices. Another rhododendron? Another ceanothus?  Is it too late to be planting something? Probably not, but, let’s face it: it’s all a bit academic, given that I’m too broke at the moment to buy any shrub or tree.

I could probably afford some daffodil and/or crocus bulbs and that would be kinda nice in the spring, wouldn’t it?

Oh, and FYI, I figure, on the basis of a back of the envelope calculation, that at the rate of three hours for this small area, I could clear out all the rocks, stones and pebbles in the parts of my property where I might like to plant something in approximately 14,000 years.