David put the windows in the coop this morning before breakfast.  He and Eloise are off this afternoon to visit Aunt Ruth in Mount Angel and to visit a nursery for more blueberry plants.

I spent six hours digging today.  I’m still working on the fourth bed, and I’ll post some pictures of the garden and coop tomorrow.

I was overly optimistic to think that I could finish digging out the beds by the end of March.  Though it depresses me to say, I think the end of May is a more likely finish date. 

This double-digging is busting me.  I also am dealing with a significant slope in the garden right now so the beds need to be deeper overall to compensate.  There also seems to be a sheet of asphalt out there, down about 20 inches, and rocks bigger than my hand below the asphalt.  It’s no wonder we had trouble growing certain vegetables in the past!

I feel anxious about my plan to double dig the beds.  It’s so much work!  What if it creates more headache in the future?  What if we won’t see an increase in yield?  I can’t afford to be doing this digging for nothing.

These are the conversations I have with myself out there.  At the moment,  I still believe this is the right thing to do.  There are areas 20 – 30 inches down that are almost solid rock/asphalt.  In years past, I’m sure vegetable rootlets couldn’t penetrate this impasse.  It’s right for me to remove it all, no matter how hard a job it is.  (right?)  I emptied 8 buckets of big rocks during my six hours out there today, and I’ve even begun leaving more of the small rocks deep in the ammended beds.

I keep trying to be hopeful, but this is hard work, and I don’t want it to be for naught.