Continuing on from last week's post, we need to consider what's under the ground that may not necessarily be helpful.
Navigating relationships is never easy.
Combine that with varying backgrounds, habits, perspectives, etc, and something that isn’t a big deal can seem a big deal. Sometimes things start to mount on many fronts and you start to think about ways to call it out. But is that a good idea?
I’m sure it would hurt relationships more than help so it makes sense not to blast others. But we need to address these things so we don’t get abused or taken advantage of.
It reminds me of a section of our yard where grass just won’t grow. When I tried to put plugs into the ground with my spade bit I encountered large pieces of flagstone. They must have been put there (by me) years ago to maybe make a lower step or something.
I realized that these large stones were going to reset my hopes of growing grass (which I thought had been going on for a while) if I pulled them out. But if I leave them there then the grass will not grow and I will continue to get frustrated.
These rocks were below the ground and had about 2-3 inches of dirt on top of them so the ground looked as if it were ready to grow grass. But, because of what was underneath, it couldn’t. No matter what I tried (plugs, seeds, transplanted large patches) the ground would not yield anything.
The punchline is this: when a field isn’t producing there are likely things just under the surface that are preventing the growth.
A large rock needs to be carefully unearthed and easily pulled out.
If I were to jackhammer the rock for the one section I’m putting in a plug then I’m going to have shattered it into many pieces that each need to be pulled out of the ground one at a time. A ton of work then follows trying to get it all cleaned up. Rocks such as flagstone could splinter and cut my hand also. I need to carefully dig around the stone that is preventing the growth, unearth it, fill it with dirt, then start over the planting.
Not ideal but it isn’t until you notice the field is not producing that you have to go back and fix it.
If you see an issue, be slow to blow it up. Carefully inspect the situation then move slowly to repair (and prepare) the ground to bring forth life.
This could save you many years of clean-up.