I’ve got that sinking feeling, ohhh ahhh that sinking feeling (2010)

NEWS FLASH:  my blogs posts are currently 2-3 weeks behind when they actually occur but this one could not wait for it to be in sequence. 

After the wettest December day in Adelaide for 90 years and the wettest December on record (and we are only up to the 8th) I woke to a nice sunny Wednesday morning to find my growing bench on a lean.  It looked a bit like the leaning tower of Pisa.  (Editor: except it is a table not a tower so it is not the right shape and much smaller than a multi story building, but you get the idea.)

Luckily (?) all six legs of my bench had sunk into the ground, however the south western end had sunk the most.  The below picture (click image to view larger) shows the table leaning.  The lean looked much worse in person but it gives you an idea of what was happening.

The leaning growing bench

The bench was on a definite lean.  Looking at the bench, I decided that as the weather forecast was for no more rain for the rest of the day, it should be ok until I returned home from work.  I was fairly confident that none of the boxes would slide off the bench. 

When I returned home from work, I was pleased to find that all of my boxes were still on the table.  I scoured the back yard looking for some old bricks and stuck some masking tape around the leg that was furthest in the ground.  I then started lifting.  Not a good move when there are boxes of heavy wet soil on the table.  As the table was way too heavy to lift up, I decided to take the boxes off the table to lighten the load.  (Editor: Duhh why did you not do that in the first place.)

I was then able to pick up one end of the table and kick the bricks under the legs.  I then repeated the lift and kick at the other end.  When I tried to place the bricks under the middle legs, the whole table fell off the bricks.  So I started again.  Now with the bricks securely under each of the legs of the table it was much sturdier.  I then returned the boxes of tubes and other plants back onto the table.

Looking at the masking tape on the leg I was surprised it was quite high off the ground.  When I got the tape measure, I was even more surprised.  The leg had sunk 18.5cm into the ground.  Yes you read correctly 18.5cm.  wow I was shocked, no wonder my bench was on such a lean.  I did not measure the other legs but I know the others were not buried so deep.  The below picture (click image to view larger) shows the before and after for the leg with the tape on it.

Before and After

So here is another picture I did not think I was ever going to take.  Under my bench showing the legs propped up by bricks. 

The propped up legs

The legs are made from 25mm square tubing and they were sitting on the ground.  Last year I remember at the end of the season it has sunk about 10mm in the ground from the weight of the boxes but this was ridiculous.  The table had only been in its position for about a month.  I think it was a combination of a few very very wet days and softer ground in this years bench location on the other side of the yard (see previous blog post Location, Location, Location and The Shade Structure Saga 2010).

Until next time.  Happy Growing, Cheers Simon.