Thanks to 4 willing participants, 1 very large delivery truck, and 9 cubic yards of soil (thanks to Johannas from Yardworks), Dirt Day finally arrived! (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, go here first, and then here and then here).

Last Friday…let me qualify that and try again….At 7am last Friday an extremely large dump truck arrived at our building filled with a ridiculous amount of Rainforest soil (75% organic compost, 25% sand and a dash of peat for good measure). Within seconds it was dumped in a pile larger than an averaged size car, and we shoveled it. Shoveled it into our 6 garden beds, for the next 5 hours.

7.10am - let the shoveling begin!

7.40am - the first few loads hit the beds.

8.25am - Norman the Schnoodle, helping. Ok not really, more like trying to stay out of the way.

Since we were dealing with serious blackberry roots in this whole garden area, a few people decided to lay down cardboard as a barrier (below), apparently this should kill the remaining roots, and is more eco friendly than laying down thick, black plastic which was also recommended to us.

cardboad first, then soil.

almost 10am - doesn't look like much progress, but we started at the far beds. 2 full, 4 to go!

A few others tried out a thick layer of newspaper; specifically The Georgia Straights from the previous week.

With a break for lunch, we were finished shortly after 1pm, and yes, I had a nap that afternoon. I was beat. But the upcoming week is when the real fun begins, and I can’t wait. Stay tuned!