Garden

So, I will add the TLDR version at the top for those that do not want to read the whole story.

The garden before. Sun March 21, 2021 (some weeds already pulled.
The garden after. Sat April 17, 2021

When Alissa and I bought and moved into this house a year ago she immediately knew the space between two retention walls behind the house was going to be our garden. It was filled with weeds and was planned to be a project for the next spring. Throughout the summer the weeds, flowers and trees blossomed in this space and I had a hard time envisioning getting everything out and a garden in. You can see from a picture taken in June how lush and green it was.

June 10, 2020

Then Fall and Winter came and went and what was left was dead and brown but just waiting to come back just as lush and green as last year. Alissa had a plan after reading and researching. We needed to pull out all the weeds, roots and all. Confirm the drainage pipe was intact to move water out. Add a layer of gravel and then a layer of topsoil. Sounds easy, right?

All smiles in the beginning.
Along with the weeds we had Virginia creeper and other ground cover type plants growing. These were a pain in the ass to get out. Here is one of many battles we fought.
VICTORY!
Weeds and roots mostly cleared as is part of the drainage pipe.
Along the way while digging out weeds, roots and vines Alissa found these bones. We sent the pic to Quincy who identied these as most likely raccoon. There was a time in the summer when it did smell like something died out back. I tried to find what and where but never did. We did not find any human remains, a concern both of us had.
Starting the next phase, Saturday April 10, 2021

The next phase was to get the delivery of gravel and topsoil. We ordered one cubic yard of gravel and six cubic yards of “growers blend” topsoil. My hope was that the dump truck could get as close to the garden as possible. That meant backing up the hill of a driveway and across the back yard which is also an incline. The first delivery of gravel arrived in the “small” dump truck and could not back up the driveway. So it was dumped out in front of the house in the driveway. I laid out a plastic tarp for the topsoil when the second, bigger dump truck arrived and dumped the topsoil. This meant that both had to be moved by wheelbarrow from the front, uphill and around the back to the garden.

Saturday April 10, 2021 and the last time I am going to smile for the next couple of weeks.
I drilled holes in the drainage pipe and then moved the gravel by wheelbarrow and bucket. We were shooting for at least a few inches to cover.
With the gravel in, we then started to move the existing dirt down to cover the gravel to level the garden out. Part of the existing dirt was thick clay that Alissas was concerned nothing would grow in. We attempted to break this up as much as possible and mix with the regular earth. During this work we also found more roots that we pulled up. The damn things were everywhere and some were the size of tree limbs. There are also four tree stumps at the far end that I will dig out at a later date. We left space open at the far end to have access to the garden anyway.
Happy that the garden is leveled out, it was time now to move the topsoil. The issue was getting it in the garden. I moved the gravel, one wheelbarrow at a time and then with a bucket dumped it over the wall. That was one cu. yd of gravel and it took me hours. We had 6 cu. yds of topsoil and there was no way I was going to dump it in one bucket at a time. I took the first couple of wheelbarrow loads around to the back wall and dumped there, but Alissa needed the topsoil more at the front wall. I started to come up with an elaborate plan to create a scaffold with a ramp made from breezeblocks and wood planks along the front wall when Alissa said why don’t I wheel it in ON the front wall and dump it from there? This is why I married her, she’s a genius. This was enough for one day, we planned to finish up the following day.
Sunday April 11, 2021 8 AM. I start moving topsoil.
9:30 AM. 10 wheelbarrows moved.
11:30 AM and 30 wheelbarrows moved and I feel like I’ve barely made a dent.
Its after 12 noon and we have enlisted the help of Freya now. Alissa and Freya fill up a large piece of landscape fabric (approx same amount as wheelbarrow) and the two of them drag it back to the garden as I keep pushing wheelbarrows back. I am wracking my brain for a better method. Alissa and Freya think moving it with our car may work. We lined the back of the Subaru with landscape fabric and shovel it in and I drive it to the backyard.
We manage to get seven loads in the car and dumped in the garden before the grass and mud prevent us from safely attempting more. We all fear the car stuck in the backyard or worse, sliding down into the garden.
Alissa now starts to rake and level out the topsoil while I go back to the wheelbarrow. I will not lie, I am exhausted at this point. I push to get as much in as possible knowing its supposed to rain overnight and the wet topsoil will be even heavier to move.
The topsoil leveled and Alissa has the peas, kale and cabbage planted and starts on a “snaking” path made from shale and stones we dug out of the garden. I am done at this point. We pushed the remaining topsoil to the center of the tarp, folded over the edges, covered it with doubled up landscape fabric weighed down with bricks and hoped it would not get soaked by rain.
Saturday April 17, 2021 9 AM. Moving the last of the topsoil. This ended up about 12 wheelbarrow loads and was not as wet as I feared it would be.
The last bit I was able to get into the wheelbarrow
The topsoil in, I just need to finish leveling it all out and find the stone path.
View from the roof.
Two large pieces of cut limestone that were in the yard I moved to border in the garden.

Done!
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