Our estimate to finish prepping Lavender Stairs for 850+ lavender plants was just a few more days...
Instead of a few days, it took 24. Actually, 36 if you count the days that we couldn't work due to rain or the mud rain created. Mother nature, big rocks, equipment failure, a clay bed and not the optimum labor crew [it was just the two of us] added a lot of days. Just know our days are only 6 hours long since we live an hour away. Here's our story...
On Tuesday, March 28th, energized and ready to finish Lavender Stairs field prep, we set up our Nolt's Raised Bed Mulch layer. We had some experience using the layer on our test field last July and knew that it's not ideal on a slope, but worked pretty well after a few practice rows. We had high hopes it would work well with our previous experience and the right disc adjustments. After 3 days of trying, we realized it was not going to work. We tried numerous disc adjustments to no avail and bent a plow shear. More than likely bent by hitting big rock [yes, we already removed a lot of rock but there is always more] combined with a tractor that has too much power even at the lowest gear. We also discovered during tilling, despite the field's soil test results [loam: sand 34%, silt 40% and clay 26%], that our field actually has a considerable amount of clay. With a disc adjustment issue, a bent plow shear and now hitting a clay bed, the result: non secured weed cloth and collapsed mounds with very large compacted clay clumps. With 1152 lavender plants [850+ for Lavender Stairs with remainder for front of our farm + new rows on Lavender Hill] already ordered with a staggered delivery beginning May 10th, there was no turning back. We came up with a new labor intensive and unconventional lavender soil amendment plan.
Step 1: Create mounds
Use the layer despite the broken plow shear [1 of 2] without the weed cloth to create a base. Break up the large clay clumps, remove more rock and shovel by hand soil to reshape the mounds. Next, lay weed cloth, stake, and shovel soil by hand over edges on both sides/ends to secure.
Duration: 7 days
Obstacles: Broke the other plow shear
Difficulty: Hardest manual labor we've done so far
Step 2: Improve soil and drainage
First half of the day: Burn 8" holes with a cylinder and torch, use a 6" auger tractor attachment to drill holes approximately 30" deep. Second half of the day: Add amended soil.
Duration: 14 days | Approximately 85 holes/day
Obstacles: Auger + Amending Challenges [see below]
Difficulty: Mentally + Physically Draining
Challenge #1
Using an auger attachment to drill into rock and compacted clay with a loud running tractor that is straddling and dangling an auger over a mounded row on a slope with a tractor driver that can't see the 8" hole.
How we managed:
With headsets on to communicate [actually the first couple of days we used hand signals and was not ideal], Arnie drove the tractor, and I was on the ground. Being on the ground in front of a 5000+lb tractor directing Arnie to the best location over the hole taken into consideration the physics of a dangling auger on a slope, guiding the auger to the hole center, and hitting rock/compacted clay was quite intense. Only got hit on the head with the auger once the first day. Definitely on me... don't raise up after guiding an auger that is drilling down. Stopping and starting a tractor with an auger [and trying not to hit your co-worker on the ground] for hours is no walk in the park either...it's like driving a vehicle for hours in traffic. In the end, we became proficient and removed lots of rock and compacted clay.
Challenge #2
Filling 851 8" holes with amended soil mix for lavender with limited distance between mounded rows.
How we managed:
Research on lavender soil amendments was conflicting. Our soil mix was ultimately based on availability and arbitrary percentages. Amended soil [3/4" limestone gravel, mushroom compost and premium topsoil] was mixed prior to delivery. Estimated one delivery of 8 yards. Actual to complete Lavender Stairs [with additional for front and Lavender Hill new rows], required 5 deliveries of 8 yards [holes needed 5 gals plus more due to settling before planting]. Had a few issues getting soil vendor to mix properly: soil was not mixed well or no gravel was added [who adds gravel to soil?]. Did adjust mix percentages in subsequent deliveries since mushroom compost initial percentage was too high [soil was holding moisture].
Once delivered, we shoveled soil mix [tried scooping into buckets with tractor; lots of waste] into 5 gal buckets, loaded 12 buckets into our UTV, parked at the end of row [most too narrow for UTV], farmer carried to each hole and filled. Since buckets were so heavy [40+ lbs each], Arnie did all the heavy lifting, and more often than not stayed late to complete.
Officially completed 851 holes on Lavender Stairs on May 2nd. We added 4 new rows, totaling 128 on Lavender Hill that took another 4 days to complete. Additionally, we spent a day amending 13 front of farm holes and 35 test holes of plants that did not survive the winter bringing our total to 1027. We planned to have plant ready holes for all 1152 plants being delivered, but both of us [almost in unison] said we could not prep for 125 more...
note: We also discovered compacted clay when we drilled holes with the auger for the new Lavender Hill rows and the 48 amended front of farm and test holes. Clay percentage in Lavender Hill's soil test was only 24% [slightly lower than Lavender Stairs]. I now speculate that even though we post holed soil in different spots for soil testing that the clay bed was just a bit deeper. And when I sifted through the soil to get debris [sticks, rocks and clumps] out as indicated on the soil test instructions, I may have inadvertently taken out a lot of the clay. Will definitely adjust how we submit soil for testing in the future.
Comments