1/3 Done

No, they're not graves...I got a start on my raised beds today. Each is about four feet wide and about eight feet long right now--which means I've only done a third of the full plot! The soil has been dug down and turned with a garden fork a full two feet below the natural ground surface, down through all the topsoil to the level of the clay substrate. Then, I've piled more soil about to mounds about 10" - 12" above ground level. The soil is so soft you can bury the garden fork and then twist it all with one hand!


I added a few bags of compost, but I think that's merely a formality: the only visual difference between the compost and the soil was that the compost was a little more wet! There is so much life in the soil here: I saw several 6" earthworms, centipedes, etc. I often wonder why settlers in the early days of America would stop in Illinois, which is so flat and boring and unpicturesque. That is, I wonder until I turn over a spadeful of black earth that is the envy of many Texans and Floridians.

I'm not sure if the tree cover around our yard and the neighbors' will block too much sunlight, but I am sure that if things don't grow in these beds, it won't be the soil's fault.

P.S. The French intensive method is a lot of work. I'm wiped.