Gathering wooden pallets is easier than double digging, so let's do that : )

Morning low: 59F
Afternoon high: 75F
Tonight's projected low: 57F
Alternating cloudy (mostly) & sunny (a little), with a West Wind at 8 mph
Humidity: 88%
Moon: O (100% Full)

1. I spent the morning riding around town looking for recycleable wooden pallets that I could take home with impunity. I found and loaded several in the van, and stacked them vertically against the compost bin (also made of recycled wooden pallets) by the garden. Earlier this year, I discoverd a website by a fellow who built himself a shed for his tractor out of these things (http://summerville-novascotia.com/PalletShed/) . It's a helpful site, as he's got photos and commentary documenting each phase of the building process. I hope to design the shed this evening, and begin building later this week, after the rain goes through.

2. This afternoon, under very cool and cloudy skies, I began to double dig the sixth garden bed. I start by loosening the first twelve inches of topsoil with a D-handled fork (it has roughly 12" prongs), and then shovel this topsoil out and into a wheelbarrow. I do this for the full width of the bed, giving me a trench four feet in length, one foot wide (basically the width of the shovel), and one foot deep. Next, down in the trench, I loosen and turn over the soil, again using the D-handled fork. I try for twelve inches, but I'll only go as deep as the soil will reasonably allow. When I dig these beds again in the Fall, the soil will be easier to work, and I'll go much deeper more easily ... I apologize if this is sounding rather pornographic... Then, I fill the first trench with topsoil - NOT from the wheelbarrow (I save this until the last trench) - but from loosening and shoveling out the next 4 X 1 X1 trench. I repeat this process until the entire bed (4 X 5) is double dug. All this work seems to give the plants lots of air, space and freedom to really stretch their roots, as it were, and grooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.