There is really nothing more romantic than watching your husband tear out huge chunks of lawn so you can build a garden. It’s better than long walks on the beach. And breakfast in bed. And staring at each other across a candlelit table. I can vouch, because for the past few weeks Jon has helped me build our incredible new kitchen garden, and the first step was getting rid of a 300 square foot hunk of grass.

On a rainy Saturday three weeks ago, we rented a sod cutter and our friend Roper came over with his awesome 2-wheel wheelbarrow. Jon cut the sod, I rolled it up, and Roper carted it off to the weedy no-man’s land between our fence and the alley.

Then we borrowed our neighbor’s super burly tiller to loosen up the compacted soil. The tiller turned up about 600 rocks, one early-1980s toy water gun, and a blue glass marble. After tilling, we let the chickens loose into the garden space. They were in hen heaven, scratching up the soil, clucking, eating grubs, and depositing little bits of nitrogen everywhere.

Hen Heaven

Taking out the sod was the fun part, because we spent the next few weeks lugging wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of compost into the backyard. Needless to say, I was ready to finally install the garden this past weekend.

Jon built 5 gorgeous raised beds (he used cedar boards recycled from a section of fence we removed last summer) and filled them with soil while I planted our new herb garden and barbecue area.

The East Side of the Garden

The West Side of the Garden

I’m going to install some trellises on the fence for pole beans and cucumbers, and Jon’s building a little fence to keep the chickens out, and we still have loads of veggies and raspberries to plant, and nasturtiums to seed along the pathways, and the soil needs tons of help…but for now I’m just so happy to have a garden approximately ten steps away from my back door.

Squash Seedlings Ready for Their New Home

Planting Our Favorite Lettuce