Keri really rose to the challenge today, cultivating the remainder of the primary garden space we planned out for this year’s expansion. As stated in my last garden diary entry, we now have a plot inching ever close to 800 square feet, with more than 500 of that dedicated to rows.

I feel bad that I wasn’t able to help much today –a nasty head cold has me severely compromised– but Keri really hammered out that final big plot of grass. She diligently removed massive patches of sod, then dug out the ground underneath about 20-24″ so we could then bury the sod face-side down. We then covered it with recycled cardboard, then laid on the freshly tilled soil that had previously been dug out. As I’ve stated in the past, this is a lot of manual labor, but it results in very well-tilled soil and not an ounce of oil burned in the process.

Keri also uncovered more of an ancient buried sprinkler system (which we’ve run into in the past) –this time a vertical head pipe– which would’ve wreaked havoc on a gas-powered tiller (all the more reason to avoid the power tiller). But trust me, it’s a lot of work and Keri has managed to do almost all of it. This shouldn’t surprise me; this is the same amazing woman that single-handedly demolished the built-out attic bedroom in our first Portland home. Lathe and plaster walls and ceilings, she busted every bit up and hauled most of it out herself.

Next step for the garden: liming, tilling, leveling, then direct-seeding a number of veggies that we’ve been holding out on (e.g., beans and carrots); finally, we’ll be planting more of our self-started transplants, once we get our soil reconditioned –we use Black Forest organic compost combined with our own, home-brewed compost.

Oddities and issues: Rufus, one of our two rescued jack russell terriers, threw himself –with great gusto– into my cold frame, landing directly on a flat of veggie starts (lettuce, onions and tomatoes). The poor little plants look like they might survive, but I’m only hopeful at this point. I’ll just have to thin out the most damaged among them and get the rest in the ground ASAP. It was both hilarious and infuriating to see Rufus lunge his entire body into a graceless flop on top of the plants. He’s not the brightest bulb –I like to attribute this to his abusive first home, as opposed to poor breeding– so I don’t find it entirely odd that he did it. Nevertheless, what I spent so much effort coddling into health, was nearly destroyed with one awkward leap by a furry little hunting dog.