9142 4 Meters in 2.5 Hours: Hand-Digging a Trench in Solid Clay (Paulownia Growth Test)

16-17 August 2024
Welcome back to the property. In this video, I document two days of hard manual work digging a 50-centimeter trench through extremely compacted clay soil. The goal is to replace the bad soil with good, fertile soil so that we can plant a full line of Paulownia trees—continuing the experiment that already proved successful on this land.

Over the course of two mornings (August 16–17, 2024), I dug a total of 8 meters of trench by hand, averaging about 4 meters in roughly 2.5–3 hours. The soil is pure clay, heavy, sticky, and difficult to remove. At times it sticks to the shovel and slows the process significantly. Even so, we reached a consistent depth of 45–50 cm.

This trench serves multiple purposes:
• improving growing conditions for Paulownia trees
• maintaining a clean and visible property line
• filling and replacing a damaged erosion ditch caused by runoff
• reclaiming approximately 2 meters of usable land along the edge
• creating an experimental long-term planting zone

You will also see where the removed soil was placed, how the composting area is prepared (apples, clippings, sawdust), and how we plan to correct the landscape with better soil sourced from the garden. In addition, the project has now expanded by another 8 meters to connect the entire middle section of the property.

By the end of this project, the goal is to create a full Paulownia tree wall along approximately half the property length—around 90–100 meters in total. These trees have shown exceptionally fast growth when good soil is used, unlike those planted directly into clay.

Thank you for following the progress. More updates on trench digging, soil sifting, watering, and Paulownia growth will come soon.

00:00 – Introduction & Project Goal
00:25 – Digging Through Hard Clay Soil
01:30 – Day 1 Progress: 4 Meters Done
02:40 – Day 2 Work Session & Measurements
04:00 – Project Expansion & Property Layout
06:20 – Final Thoughts & Next Steps