Since the weather took an unusual turn for the beautiful and unseasonably warm, I have been acutely aware of how much grass is in the backyard and how little friable, rich soil there is. Yesterday I plotted out the the perimeter of the garden, which is 15' x 15' (pretty generous, considering the resistance I got to having one in the first place, and my crazy school schedule). I made concentric cuts in the sod and have about half of the area left; I am leaving the chunks of sod there so that the dirt doesn't dry out from being exposed in between visits. As soon as all of it is cut, they'll get hauled away bucket by bucket. The wheelbarrow has a busted wheel, and the barrow part is rather unwieldy without it. I bought a bag of organic compost and organic bumper crop yesterday to try and amend the soil; there are many eggshells waiting for me in the fridge. After adding this stuff, it'll get mulched to keep moisture in. I hope this works. I am considering paying the neighborhood kids to pick out the all the shale at $.10 a rock.