Russ to the Rescue

I ordered 6 yards of garden mix soil last week. When I did I had to pick a delivery date, so I said Monday. Late yesterday afternoon my soil guy pulled up, the same guy who delivered 28 yards of fill dirt to me a month ago. “Nice job,” he told me as he surveyed all that I had done since his last visit. I proudly accepted his compliment and told him I was looking forward to finishing this project for the winter.

When I scheduled the delivery I had no idea that we were expecting many days of rain starting tomorrow. So yesterday after the driver expertly dumbed the beautiful black soil right were I needed it I started shoveling.

I would fill our big yellow wheel barrow about three quarters full with soil because that was about all I could lift and still be able to push the wheel barrow through the gravel driveway and into the garden. I had left two feet between every raised bed which was just enough to maneuver the wheel barrow around the garden.

I started filling the fourteen inch high garden beds. It took many loads just half way fill one bed. After a few hours yesterday I had to stop because I was losing the light. With impending rain on Wednesday I knew that I had to finish all the filling by today. I thought it was doable.

I was out in the driveway shoveling and dumping, by 8:15 in the morning. I had taken a preemptive Aleve knowing this was going to be hard work. I kept at it all day. Taking sitting breaks every hour when I would cut the garden fabric I was using to line the inside joints of the garden beds.

I worked and worked calculating I had made 150 trips of the wheel barrow based on my step count of 22,000 by 4:30. The light was beginning to wain. I still had a big pile of dirt and my back was causing me to slow down. A little bit after 5:00 Russ came outside and said he had postponed a work call to help me. I burst into tears from exhaustion.

Together in the dark we worked another 45 minutes and got most of the work done. We had reduced the pile to the point that we could cover the remaining dirt with tarps so in a few days when the rain stops I can finish.

For the most part every bed in 90% full. I am going to need these rainy days to recover physically, but the worst of this job is over.