Veg beds - day 4

Michael went back to work today, and 3 tons of topsoil was delivered, at a total cost of £37.50-ish.
Now the topsoil's rubbish, very sandy with some pebbles, but it was very cheap and will improve the clay no end. And it saves us buying gravel.

Unfortunately though, moving three tons of soil from the front of the house to the bed area round the back is no mean feat.

I'd asked my friend Emma if she fancied helping me - we exercise together (well we're supposed to, but we've let it slide a lot recently with one thing or another) and she's going to help with the gardening. But she texted me in the morning to say her car wouldn't start, and her dad was going to see if he could fix it, so I was on my own. The logical next step? Go back to sleep of course!

Anyway, later I set to with the shovel and wheelbarrow, moving the soil something like 30m (maybe 100ft). It took 19 trips with the wheelbarrow, and maybe 3.5 hours including breaks, but I managed to move whole ton of soil! That's 1016kg (2240lb).

Doesn't look like much there, does it? Well you try telling that to my back... which certainly knows I've been working. And in fact aches a fair bit now.

I'm aiming for half a ton tomorrow. Then I'll start building the sides of the bed.

No rest for the wicked...

And I'm intrigued by the idea of square foot gardening. Looks very cool, and shockingly similar to the idea I had of planing in blacks rather than rows to make better use of space.