Me too, just doesn't look right clean does it.Goose said:I use it to make my landrover look "right", just not the same when it isn't muddy
Good one BR, lol.
A thing about mud!
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Good one BR, lol.
There are times that the debris that builds up in mine has it's own stratigraphy of where I've been working through the season. It can be quite interesting sometimes trying to work out exactly where that particular bit of plant came from I agree; much under-rated stuff is mud
Cammo; theoretically since there are quantities of metals in the mud that would act as mordants, adn tannins from the plant debris, we could use the mud as paint that would dye cloth enough to create a *real* land camouflage pattern.
Cheers,
Toddy
Mud/soil is definitely interesting. When I was up camping in a field in Oxfordshire the first thing I noticed was the different coloured soil to what I usually see.
The first thing gardeners remark on when they visit my allotments is the nice mud. They can't resist picking it up in their hands and inspecting it. The ground should be London clay but it's beautiful organic soil. I can't take any credit for that, it was the mental health charity who used to work it before I took over. They dug in truck loads of horse manure while they were cultivating it.
Nice mud is a pleasure to behold. What I really don't like is clay. It sticks to everything and is a difficult to clean. It sticks to wellies and you can't rinse it off. The only way to get it off is to scrape it. I don't mind mud in the car (which is just as well with an entire family of mud larks) but clay is awful IMO.
The first thing gardeners remark on when they visit my allotments is the nice mud. They can't resist picking it up in their hands and inspecting it. The ground should be London clay but it's beautiful organic soil. I can't take any credit for that, it was the mental health charity who used to work it before I took over. They dug in truck loads of horse manure while they were cultivating it.
Nice mud is a pleasure to behold. What I really don't like is clay. It sticks to everything and is a difficult to clean. It sticks to wellies and you can't rinse it off. The only way to get it off is to scrape it. I don't mind mud in the car (which is just as well with an entire family of mud larks) but clay is awful IMO.
Here in this little bit of the Chilterns the mud (clay) is yellow/orange and depending on the area you are in is filled with sharp flints that rip and cut the tractor tyres if you are pulling timber and it is slippery. Other places are flint free and have a long history of brick making. The Mersey tunnel is made from local bricks. The clay is of varying thicknesses from 6'' to 20' then chalk is found. There are stone age workings for the flint and a bell mine with layers of flint in the chalk. (similar to Grimes Graves)
I've never really paid much attention before. Our garden is mainly clay which is an absolute pain to dig over. I'm kind of thinking Sussex is a huge clay pit but I need to investigate this more.
Paul
Paul
mine is perfect building sand
we excavated a pool and all the spoil is at the bottom of our garden being used by any local builders who promise not to take too much (soo to be a duck pond)
we excavated a pool and all the spoil is at the bottom of our garden being used by any local builders who promise not to take too much (soo to be a duck pond)
Where my house stands now, and the tiny yard I call my garden, once stood the grounds of the Bristol Crown pottery company. (50 years before that its marked on an old map as an area known as the wastelands) so its not surprise that just under the top soil is about five foot of brick red clay.
I used to live up the road (literally 60 metres up the street) and the 'mud' was 90% coal waste and 10% cat poo. Nothing but moss and bindweeds would grow. I used moss killer on my lawn one year and the lawn vanished, leaving me a black ash garden. I turfed it over before the owner came to check if I was looking after his house. He said I must have a green thumb as the garden looked better than it ever had. (Two years later the all grass was dead and the moss was back)
I used to live up the road (literally 60 metres up the street) and the 'mud' was 90% coal waste and 10% cat poo. Nothing but moss and bindweeds would grow. I used moss killer on my lawn one year and the lawn vanished, leaving me a black ash garden. I turfed it over before the owner came to check if I was looking after his house. He said I must have a green thumb as the garden looked better than it ever had. (Two years later the all grass was dead and the moss was back)
ahhh, where do I start. Being an archaeologist I have a very close affinity with all things dirt/mud, especially this time of year with all the rain. Everyday, I find myself in some strange place trying to tease out our past from our friend 'the mud'. At present I am working up on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh excavating the remains of the old Toll Booth or prision. There is not much to see really except the robbed out remains of a wall that has been destroyed by past/modern services. I sit there examining the mud, rolling it, smoothing it, squishing it in order to decide if that bit of mud is the same as the other bit of mud I have uncovered i.e different contexts or layers of time. Archaeologists usually define the different types of soil using a book called a munsel chart. This is filled with little glossy pictures of colour (rather like a paint sampling book) that can identify each type of soil. This is then used along with texture etc to decide which type it is i.e Oxford clay. The soil is both my friend, enemy and livelihood, without it we would all be in trouble. I find the stuff fascinating and every field I pass I cannot help but poke around at the ground and wonder if there is anything down there. I have always said there is archaeology in every field, it just depends on what you are looking for??
