Sore shoulders, fun times

Never underestimate little old gray-haired ladies.

Between yesterday and today, two of us (and I admit, more work by my new friend than by old out-of-shape me) dug out and relocated the old soil down to about 13" from the top, then broke up a foot or so of dense clay that clearly hadn't been moved for years. Many years.  But it's loose down to the bottom now.

That nice dark soil on top is just some sandy loam that was leftover from the management this summer. It will help with reconditioning the clay over the coming months. At the moment, we simply spread it on top. Rain is due tonight and tomorrow, so there's no point in adding any nutrients or other good stuff today.

I worked for about an hour and a half yesterday, while my new gardening friend (two years older than me but used to doing this kind of thing) worked a few more hours by herself. She loves it. Has dug out several of these completely by herself. This morning we worked together for about 2 hours and got the job done. Do I hurt? Yes. Is it permanent? No. Just achy muscles in lower back and arms and shoulders and many other spots that haven't been worked this hard for awhile. I'm happy to see the rain coming in, as it's a good excuse to take a day off.

Our dahlia grower has been at it again, left these lovelies in the dish for the rest of us to enjoy. I've learned that this woman also grows dahlias on a friend's farm outside of town somewhere and consistently wins blue ribbons for them. She's quite an expert, and the few plants she has here are just for fun. In case y'all out there don't know it, Oregon grows dahlias that will just knock your socks off. This time of year it's a blaze of glory out there, with huge blossoms of every conceivable color.

This is 'my' end of our little garden area, with my empty one clearly visible in the middle. There are an equal number behind me. Really a nice amenity for this place, for me and for the other passionate gardeners in the building. There are a surprising number of us who get out there and do the work, too. My new friend has the big tomatoes on the right, plus maintains several other boxes for other people who don't want to do the job themselves.


So that's it in the garden until Monday, when I go pick up more bags of compost to fill the box, then start putting it together. Gonna be a fun process, and it's nice to have a friend who is as excited about it as I am.