Sod-->BUSTED!

The major portion of the garden area has been sod busted!

I did the math, and I worked over 50 hours clearing 160ish square feet of sod.

Today there was just "the island" left. A portion of grass at the top of the clearing that still had to be dug up. Then we're free to rake it level and put in the garden beds!  I started outside around noon, and worked for nearly 7 hours at it. And it was in the low 40's all day...brrrr! I wore my snow pants (waterproof and warm!) and quite a few layers on top!

To give you an idea of how long it takes to get ALL the stinking Bermuda grass out, I took this picture at 5:58

And this one at 6:57

That is some SLOW going!  And that is one solid hour (and two buckets of grass and roots) of work. I got a cup of coffee before taking the first picture and refilled after taking the second. In between I kept my head down and worked and clawed that dirt as fast as I could.

My furry companion was there with me for most of it. At one point he was standing on the island gazing so quizzically at the dirt I went to take a picture of him...and in a second he went from just looking, to 

THIS

to THIS

With me yelling "No dig! No dig!!!"

Then I thought, "Well...maybe it would go faster..."

Then I envisioned a yard full of holes and that affirmed my gut reaction.

And I've learned a few things in my 50+ hours of digging this past month.  

That I love being outside. 

That my hair actually remembers what the sun does to it and gets so much lighter.  

That Tatum loves being outside too, but when I tell her she can't water the plants any more she gets fed up and goes inside.  

That I love listening to the birds flirt with each other. 

That our soil is actually pretty darn healthy--lots of earthworms and very few grubs.  

That I can now quickly dispatch of said grubs with a pop of my fingers, whereas at the beginning I used the spade. 

That I despise, loathe and HATE Bermuda grass and its never-ending maze of stubborn stolons that will magically create another lush carpet of grass if you so much as leave a quarter of an inch of the stuff. 

That dirt will be under my fingernails even when wearing gloves. 

And that I will be very very glad when this is all covered with landscape fabric and mulch and the real gardening (in raised beds!) can begin.

So goodnight...I've earned a long soak in a hot tub for my aching back! And hey--look! I'm actually in a picture! What you can't see is how covered in mud and dirt I am!!!