I've been tearing up the back half of my back yard: a 10 x 25 foot rectangle (plus a little 8 x 4 foot bit off in the corner).
As I've likely mentioned, my yard has a lot of roots, a lot of rocks, and a lot of clay. So I didn't expect miracles when I borrowed my dad's rototiller. But it's really worked. I occasionally need to pull out the pickax to get through a rough spot, and I've chopped out about 10' of roots and 3 buckets of rocks. But the topsoil is looking good, and the earthworms may not be happy about the churn, but there's lots of them.
Over in the corner (that little 8 x 4 bit), I was able to get up quite a mess of hard dirt and weed and mulch it over. I'm not quite sure how I want to rehabilitate that patch, because I need to be able to walk (and drag a wheelbarrow and lawn mower) over it, but I figure leaving it covered for a year or so won't hurt it, and it gives me time to think about my options.
The big section is where I want to put in raised beds for a garden. I'd also like to put in a nice avocado tree.
Now that the ground is mostly prepared, I need to figure out what I'm using to build the beds. I'd been thinking cedar or redwood (2" x 12" x 8' boards, to make 8' x 4' x 2' high boxes), but now I'm considering interlocking concrete blocks of some sort. I'm planning to make up my mind next weekend, so that I can get started.
I'd really like to grow my own tomatoes (and carrots and broccoli, and maybe grapes) this year.
The strawberries are giving me encouragement. My one little plant has spread out to cover its whole patch of dirt, and both the parent and all of its offshoots are in bloom. Hopefully the return of winter weather won't hit them too hard.
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