On Friday we had a load of 7.5 yards of organic compost dumped in our driveway.
Immediately I felt a wave of deja vu wash over me....hadn't I seen a pile like this somewhere before? Ah, yes....and it had been just one short year ago. That time, it took us 3 days to move that pile of compost into our garden, and it was a slow and painful project. I had just had surgery 2 months before, and my body was not in the best shape to be doing all that hauling and shoveling. But we were determined to have a great garden, and that determination carried us through again this year. We got started about 10:30 Saturday morning, borrowing a wheelbarrow from our neighbors and buying another shovel (since we only had one of each). Its a loooong walk from the driveway to the garden:
We toiled away all day, taking more and more frequent breaks as the time wore on. It is hard work shoveling, pushing and dumping all that compost! Around 3:30, things were looking pretty darn good:
We had the garden filled, including the 2 places adjacent to it that we are expanding into this year. We had a bunch put down in the front, along the curb where the rose bushes that we took out used to be. We are planting flowers there this spring to bring some color to our front yard. We also had enough for a couple of wheelbarrows full into the hole that was left from the cherry tree being removed.
As we were sitting around resting and admiring our work we started to throw some numbers around. We figured out that its about 100 feet from the driveway to the garden. We counted 102 piles of dirt. So that meant we had each walked to and from the garden 51 times. We had to walk the 100 feet to the garden and back on each load, so 51 loads X 200 feet walked per load = 10,200 feet each!! There are 5,280 feet in a mile, so that means we each walked almost 2 miles plus scooped hundreds of shovel loads full of dirt! It was quite the workout, and our bodies were definitely feeling it!
We decided we had done enough for one day, and left the rest for Sunday morning. It didn't take long to level all the mounds, and it started to look like we were really getting somewhere!
That area to the right is one of our expansion places, we are going to grow corn there this year, after trimming a few overhanging branches. I am hoping our local guy that does rototilling for us can come out next weekend, and then we can start getting seeds in the ground. Some of the things we can get planted out there now are lettuce, peas, spinach, radishes, turnips, onions and I think potatoes (have to check on that one). Everything else will need a head start inside which is why we got our seedling area set up this weekend as well:
We are lucky to have a garage that already has a large workbench that we can use. We hung the 4 foot shop light from the ceiling, and bought extra chain so we can lower it close to the seeds when they sprout (it goes down much lower than in the picture). Under the seed starting tray we have a heat mat, and hopefully there will still be room under the light for plants that graduate to pots. If not, we have room to hang another light fixture next to this one. I am really pleased with how its turning out, and we will be getting seeds started in there this week. I cant wait to see all our little sprouts, and I really cant wait to start getting veggies from our garden!
Immediately I felt a wave of deja vu wash over me....hadn't I seen a pile like this somewhere before? Ah, yes....and it had been just one short year ago. That time, it took us 3 days to move that pile of compost into our garden, and it was a slow and painful project. I had just had surgery 2 months before, and my body was not in the best shape to be doing all that hauling and shoveling. But we were determined to have a great garden, and that determination carried us through again this year. We got started about 10:30 Saturday morning, borrowing a wheelbarrow from our neighbors and buying another shovel (since we only had one of each). Its a loooong walk from the driveway to the garden:
We toiled away all day, taking more and more frequent breaks as the time wore on. It is hard work shoveling, pushing and dumping all that compost! Around 3:30, things were looking pretty darn good:
We had the garden filled, including the 2 places adjacent to it that we are expanding into this year. We had a bunch put down in the front, along the curb where the rose bushes that we took out used to be. We are planting flowers there this spring to bring some color to our front yard. We also had enough for a couple of wheelbarrows full into the hole that was left from the cherry tree being removed.
As we were sitting around resting and admiring our work we started to throw some numbers around. We figured out that its about 100 feet from the driveway to the garden. We counted 102 piles of dirt. So that meant we had each walked to and from the garden 51 times. We had to walk the 100 feet to the garden and back on each load, so 51 loads X 200 feet walked per load = 10,200 feet each!! There are 5,280 feet in a mile, so that means we each walked almost 2 miles plus scooped hundreds of shovel loads full of dirt! It was quite the workout, and our bodies were definitely feeling it!
We decided we had done enough for one day, and left the rest for Sunday morning. It didn't take long to level all the mounds, and it started to look like we were really getting somewhere!
That area to the right is one of our expansion places, we are going to grow corn there this year, after trimming a few overhanging branches. I am hoping our local guy that does rototilling for us can come out next weekend, and then we can start getting seeds in the ground. Some of the things we can get planted out there now are lettuce, peas, spinach, radishes, turnips, onions and I think potatoes (have to check on that one). Everything else will need a head start inside which is why we got our seedling area set up this weekend as well:
We are lucky to have a garage that already has a large workbench that we can use. We hung the 4 foot shop light from the ceiling, and bought extra chain so we can lower it close to the seeds when they sprout (it goes down much lower than in the picture). Under the seed starting tray we have a heat mat, and hopefully there will still be room under the light for plants that graduate to pots. If not, we have room to hang another light fixture next to this one. I am really pleased with how its turning out, and we will be getting seeds started in there this week. I cant wait to see all our little sprouts, and I really cant wait to start getting veggies from our garden!