Digging a hole in my garden, how deep can I go?

fiacha

Go for it. Everyone should dig a hole by hand at least once in their life !

Dig it deeper and wider than you need. Fill the bottom with gravel / hardcore and compact it. Backfill the hole around the fancy beer bucket with gravel up to 6" below the surface. Top off with soil or whatever you fancy.

This will help prevent or at least reduce the issues you'll face when the soil settles and your bucket starts sinking / tilting. Water draining off the surface will seep out through the gravel.

magicbastarder

i dug i think 30 inches deep for our garden pond. i hit a bit of water with a couple of inches to go.

Flipperdipper

I used one of these to dig a hole for an ex ESB pole to mount my satellite dish on.
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Heavy-Duty-Post-Hole-Digger-Hardened-And-Stamped-Oval-Shaped-Steel-Blades-1500mm/223371151005?hash=item3401f5469d:g:aNcAAOSwKphcWrdc
I was able to dig down until the handles were just below the level of the grass without too much effort.

my3cents

Flipperdipper wrote: »

I used one of these to dig a hole for an ex ESB pole to mount my satellite dish on.
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Heavy-Duty-Post-Hole-Digger-Hardened-And-Stamped-Oval-Shaped-Steel-Blades-1500mm/223371151005?hash=item3401f5469d:g:aNcAAOSwKphcWrdc
I was able to dig down until the handles were just below the level of the grass without too much effort.

All depends what you come across as you are digging. On our soil the chances are you'd come across a boulder bigger than the hole and have no chance of getting any deeper. In other areas I've lived one you could dig and dig because it was on sand and another you'd need to get dynamite out as the bedrock was only a few inches down.

On most soils with those post holers you only use them to lift out loosened soil otherwise the don't last five minutes bashing away at stone and gravel. Normal procedure is to work away with a crowbar lift out the loose soil then go at it again with a crowbar or a graft (pointy heavy duty trench spade).

daheff

The Enbalmer wrote: »

That is the sorriest reason I ever saw for digging a hole.
If you're gonna dig a hole at least make it for a worthwhile purpose.

at least put a locked safe with a link to this thread inside it below the beer fridge


then whenever its dug out somebody will find it & start another 'I found a Safe, how do i open it' mega thread

gozunda

OP

You need to read this thread first before starting. Holes can be dangerous.... :eek:

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057876630/1/#post107123017

recedite

You can do this with an iron spud bar and a long narrow spade. Towards the end you'll need to reach your arm down with a hand trowel to get the material out.
Its a novel idea for keeping beer cool, but I'd expect the slugs will love it too!

fryup

Dónal wrote: »

please don't say he's irish

Harry Palmr

Has the OP reached China yet?