Garden stuff

I know this is a bad pic but wanted to include it for those who haven't seen our back yard. This is the view from our spare room upstairs from which I lounge on the bed and watch Brent work. Hahahaha, no really but it helps to illustrate. Marissa (4) lives in the house top left, and Riley (another girl friend, but she is 6 so goes to school) and her family recently moved into the house directly behind us. The long narrow boxes outline approx. the 16 foot easement across the back of our property. The black stuff and wood chips are to help eliminate the loads of weeds, and grass (I pulled out the blackberries so hopefully they are gone) that never got cleared out of the back, and the tiny bit of mulch you see on the left is one end of the raspberry patch to be (the deer viciously decimated my 4 little plants :( They will probably come back to life in the spring but I am still very upset with the deer!

A better view of my hard working hubby, and no joke, it was better than anticipated but still largely clay that he had to dig through. I think he went down more than a foot deep and added at least 3 wheelbarrows of sand, Caleb is lending a hand :) You can't really tell but there are about 4 inch garlic plants growing in that long box the garden bed frame is resting on, right in front of Caleb. I have about 20 plants growing, never tried to grow garlic before so hopefully it does all right!

Ever since Dad started work on his workbench Derek has been inspired. That box in the top left is Derek's workbench he made with Dad :) Today he banged together a "boat" for Caleb, an airplane (the wood split on him :( ) , and a space ship, which were all identifiable, so we were duly impressed :D
Oh and yes Grandma's, he has hit his fingers, and they are all ok and accounted for ;p

EEEeeeeek, can you see all the solid clay lumps! This is after the sand has been added, and I put in some lime too. I don't know how long he spent but Brent whacked and stirred and dug and mixed it all for a long time.......

And this is the result. I am amazed at how full my box is! I anticipated loads of soil needed to be brought in to fill it, but after a thorough fluffing and wheelbarrows of sand it is pretty darn full! I am just going to add an inch or two of compost and call it done! I am so pleased, Brent did a great job all round (built the box today too!) especially for a dedicated "NO GARDEN WORK" hubby :D

Not a clue why this posted sideways, it was right in Photoshop, oh well you can get the idea, while Brent was digging I mixed together a seedling starter blend, added some goodies (for the plants ;p) and filled my salad bins. They have holes (jabbed with a knife) in the bottom for drainage, and lids to seal in the moisture. Got the cookie sheets to catch draining water at Goodwill for $2 or so, and put it all in the master bath which gets the best light all day, I can heat it, and it is more humid than the rest of the house.
Now I just need to plant the seeds..... :D

WOOHOO!

The progress is just too exciting for me ;D