The works progresses

Nick spent the majority of his weekend working out in the garden.  I really should have taken some "before" pictures so that you could see how far he's come on working on that particular piece of real estate.

The finished beds were on my right as I sat in the yard, watching Nick and Eliza work this weekend.  (Well, Nick worked, and Eliza "helped".  Simon and I chilled out in a lawn chair.)   Finished, as in built, I should say.  We haven't planted anything yet.

The bed frames and unbroken ground was to my left.  You can see our neighbors' backyard beyond the chainlink fence and his mini-greenhouse. Hope he doesn't mind...

And here are Nick and Eliza working in the middle.  Nick first broke up the ground, then picked all the weeds growing out of the dirt.  The he built up the beds within the frames and created little walkways between the beds, as you saw in the first picture.

And all of this after all the work he did to dig up unwanted bushes, chop down the lilac (which we would have moved if it would have survived, we'll just have to plant another one somewhere else) dug out stumps, replanted bulbs elsewhere...  It's been a lot of work and we haven't even planted yet!  But, this picture above is one reason why we want a garden: besides the fresh produce and providing it for our own family, we want to teach our kids to work in the garden, to learn a good work ethic and to appreciate the fruit of their own labors over a season.  We are really hoping and praying for success over the years in this respect.