in our rock hard clay i have foudn the easiest way is to run a soaker hose in the area for a couple days before you plan on digging by hand. just turn it on low and let it run. then the day before turn it off. next day the soil is dry enough not to be a mud hole, but damp enough to dig easily. it may take a few times to get the flow right, too much water and you have a muddy mess and not enough and you wasted the water. the trick is to do it slow enough that it does not run off. toolwise, i use a pick axe, a shovel and an old post hole digger. my PHD is not the squeeze type, it is an auger that you turn to dig the hole. it has a T-handle on it and you just spin it down. when we put up a fence at work several holes had to be hand dug due to proximity to underground utilities. i could dig 2 holes to 1 against the guys using the squeeze type PDH.

I don't like leafblowers either! I mow up most of my leaves, but I rake some too. I have a couple of lids to 5-gallon buckets, so I use those as my big leaf-grabber scoops. Another non-tool tool: I finally got an old mailbox set up in the veggie patch, and that's been great for holding supplies that I would have to run into the house to get; twine/t-shirt strips for tying up veggies, plant tags, pencils, sharpie, scissors, medicine bottles to hold seeds, extra gloves. It helps me get things done when I first notice the need, because the supplies are right there and I don't put off the task until the next time I go to the house (and then forget to get the supplies) When I'm making a new bed, I shovel up the sod and dirt and wait a few days for the roots to weaken, the soil to dry some, and hopefully for the worms to leave. The soil clinging to the roots is the best soil in the yard, (what's under it is almost pure sand) so I have to get it off. What works best is a hand tool that has 3 blunt tines on one side, and a triangular shape on the other. I sit on the ground (better for your back) and bash at the dirt side of each chunk, usually with the fork side. The dirt comes off pretty easily. I couldn't find a photo showing just this tool, but if you follow the link and look in the upper right of the photo, that's my tool. I find that if I can't be organized, I can at least have so many trowels I'm bound to find one soon! It doesn't have to be a nice one, it just has to be there! I grab them at garage sales or on sale in stores, so I can find one in any likely spot--where I was working last in the front, where I was working last in the back, ditto for the veggie patch, where I keep my extra soil, and where the trowel is actually supposed to live! Here is a link that might be useful: tool

Without a doubt, my most useful tool has to be the Internet! It allows me to see what's going on in the quilting world, search for fabrics and tools, explore new techniques, talk to quilters from all over the world, check out quilt blocks I haven't used before, and a thousand other things that would not otherwise be possible up here in the north woods. I can't imagine quilting without it!

Home, at my computer now, and just asked my husband what was used. We rented a jackhammer with specific attachments for the job from Home Depot. They had augers and other things for rent too, but our soil is very rocky, can have caliche and it was recommended. It worked well. Those initial holes were completed in a day and a half. The professional landscapers we hired used a slightly heavier duty version of the jackhammer we rented from HD. Good luck! Lynn