It’s Time For Raised Beds

Last weekend Russ spent two days turning over the dirt in my garden for me. He did this because the rototiller needed to be repaired and he had not worked on it in the eleven and a half months since he discovered it was broken. I am not complaining since that should have been on my to do list.
Today, I went out to the garden to continue the soil prep which Russ had gotten started. I thought it would be a fairly easy job since he had done most of the work. I was wrong. As I began to pull up the weeds that had already started to take hold I was wishing that this had been the year that I put raised beds in my garden. For three back breaking hours, right through the church hour I tilled, dug, pulled and reconditioned the soil in my vegetable bed.  
Finally after I had completed one of my two garden beds I decided my back and legs could take no more. I went to planting the lettuce, Spinach and herb plants I had picked up at the farmers meet as well as the arugula seeds. The planting took ten minutes. I watered the quarter of the one garden bed I had planted today and stood back and looked. It hardly looks like it was a two weekend job. It was more like a brown rectangle of dirt.
Now I am praying that no critters come and eat all that I have planted before I can have a chance at one meal from the garden. If I had those raised beds I at least could keep the bunnies out of the greens. Of course a raised bed is perfect eating height for deer, but then again I could put netting on top.  
I have to not be too precious about the garden and see it as more of an exercise program and less of a food production. If I were to depend on growing all the food I ate I would be very skinny. One from the huge energy output it takes to grow it and two from the small portions I would have. Actually three, from the fact that any produce I can grow is low in calories. I still haven’t found that Brie cheese plant.