Digging the ditch

The ditch should be about 20cm deep- we dug with mattocks and spades (sharpened as they were very blunt!).

The black sandy soil had lots of gum tree roots throughout which we chopped out with an axe.

All the dirt from the ditch is thrown onto the mound- at this point, the centre of the mound becomes sacred and there is no walking on it! Walking would compress and compact the soil- we want to keep the soil aerated, so all walking now is through the ditch! The mound to side in these photos is the horse manure waiting to go on as layer 2.