A Tale of Three Yards

Well, Peggy's careful soil estimates went out the window on Wednesday, when it came time to actually purchase the soil. Peggy and Virginia visited and telephone several suppliers, but could not find one that would deliver only three yards of dirt. Consequently, they decided to buy five yards, reasoning that the gardeners could split the remainder and use it for their own gardens. The kind folks at Page Road Garden Center not only agreed to deliver this relatively small amount of soil for a reduced fee, but also promised to get it to us that very same day! Naturally, they got our business and five yards of conditioned soil (a topsoil and compost mix) were purchased forthwith.

Then it was off to the Town of Garner, which was offering 80-gallon rain barrels for a reasonable price. The rain barrel was loaded into Peggy's new Subaru with no difficulty. Pleased with their success, but hungry, Peggy and Virginia stopped for lunch at Barry's Cafe before heading home to wait for the dirt delivery. Back at the garden, the rain barrel was unloaded and Peggy prepared the garden beds with a layer of newspaper to prevent weed growth.

At about four o'clock, the Page Road delivery truck was spotted and the call to arms was raised.

And here it is. We were so surprised at the small size of the dirt pile, that we asked the driver to verify the amount in the delivery, but he reassured us that this was, indeed, about five yards.

David S was on had to help move the dirt to the garden beds, and Jane joined us a bit later.

Naturally, it took almost all of the dirt to fill our three garden beds. We decided to keep the remainder in storage, in case we needed it to top up the beds. We are also tossing around the idea of creating a cut-flower bed with the leftover soil.

As dusk settled over Savasana, we rigged up the rain barrel. We placed it on two layers of concrete bricks, which we settled into a thick layer of builder's sand for easier leveling. David S cut the downspout to allow the rain water to flow directly into the barrel. Our plan is to direct both the main spigot and the two overflow valves into the garden beds via soaker hoses.

Planting commences tomorrow!