Okay, so, a few days ago I got this idea in my head. It was freezing cold outside, and I wondered, “Can you actually dig frozen ground with just a regular shovel?” I mean, I’ve heard people say it’s tough, but I wanted to see for myself. So, I grabbed my trusty shovel and headed out to the backyard.
First off, let me tell you, the ground was hard. Like, rock hard. I started by trying to just jam the shovel in like I normally do, but it wouldn’t even go in a little bit. It felt like I was hitting concrete!
So, I thought, “Okay, time for a different approach.” I remembered reading somewhere that using a hammer or mallet could help. I don’t have a mallet, but I do have a good ol’ hammer, so I used the back of it to whack the top of the shovel. I gave it a few good hits, and guess what? It started to break through the frost!
Here’s what I did:
- Step 1: I tried to dig normally, but that didn’t work at all.
- Step 2: Then, I used the back of a hammer to hit the top of the shovel. I used a lot of force, but it broke the hard surface.
- Step 3: Once I got through that top layer, I could dig a bit more with each try, but it was still really hard work.
After a while, I did manage to dig a small hole. It wasn’t easy, and it took way longer than usual, but I did it. But if I was honest, the hole was ugly, I mean, it’s totally not the same if you dig the normal ground.
My takeaways?
Well, you can dig frozen ground with a shovel, but it’s a real pain. If you have to do it, using a hammer helps a lot. I saw online some people use hot water to unfreeze the ground, might be a good idea. But honestly, if you can wait until the ground thaws, do that. It’ll save you a lot of time and effort.
