TGIF!

Friday afternoon I scheduled to have our garden tilled by a local entrepreneur. I found his name from my local version of YardSales.com. You can also check CraigsList.org for someone willing to bring rototilling equipment to your home and till your garden for a fair price. It certainly beats backbreaking work with a pitchfork and hoe. Our tiller guy brought a tractor with tiller attachment and a small tiller unit. Because of the size of our garden he was able to get it all done with the tractor unit. It cost us $50 bucks because he had to till through sod. He said next year it will be 1/2 price because there won't be sod to till through.
Anastasia has been giving our son a work out worthy of a professional trainer. She had him lay out the cinder blocks at least twice, then Thursday had to have him move them in preparation for Friday. Poor guy! Then Friday, when the tilling is done, he'll have to move them yet again. Who needs a gym when you have a personal trainer like Anastasia?

Anastasia laid out the timbers and used spray paint to paint lines in the grass to denote the garden space. Since she used white paint, I had to embellish the photo with red paint so you can see the size.
This is what the garden plot looks like after the tilling. We're going to be covering up with black landscaping fabric because our seedlings are not yet ready for transplant. We also want to add some organic soil amendments. That, and with the goofy Illinois weather, we want to wait until our seedlings are nice and hearty and the weather is right.
And here is one of our first Lilac Bushes to bloom. I have always loved the smell of Lilacs, they remind me of my Mother. She had several huge Lilac Bushes in our backyard. We planted 4 in front of our deck and I can't wait to sit out there with a beverage and enjoy the smells.
I made a trip to Lowe's (after Anastasia went to work) to pick up some topsoil to level out the area where we will be planting our grape bushes. I also bought organic humus to mix in to the garden plot and cypress mulch for the bushes. I spent a whole $19.07. Had I brought Anastasia with, forgettaboutit.

It's supposed to be a nice weekend, here in the Chicagoland area anyway, so get out there and get dirty in the garden!

If you don't have a garden, get out on the links. Or if you're like me, you'll try to fit in both!

Lola's Victory Garden
©2009