Raised Garden Beds: Sod Be Gone!

Our second step in the raised bed installation (after building the frames out of cedar) was to figure out the exact size and shape of the garden including walkways around the beds (which will be gravel because it is so wet back there).  We positioned and repositioned the bed frames until we got it just right, then marked the area with old fence posts we never quite got around to throwing away before winter set in.  We moved the beds off to the sides and began the first of several painful tasks - removing the sod so we can level out the hilly terrain.  Removing sod isn't so bad when you're planting a garden bed or a few bushes, but it's horrible and exhausting when you're removing it from a 16x25 ft space.  That's 400 square feet of sod to pull up... and then 400 square feet of dirt to level out!

It's been such a rainy April around here that the entire area behind the garage is a muddy swamp.  Digging up the sod created a giant mud pit.  In the pictures we still had one small section to go, but that's been pulled up since.  Next up... leveling everything out.