22 September 2008 New Garden Bed Prepared. 22 September 2008 New Garden Bed Prepared

A new garden bed was prepared. (About 8 by 25 feet)The underlying soil is clay. The pictures depict the procedure.
First the sod was removed with manual kick sod cutter.
The underlying packed clay was hand spaded.
The spaded chunks were broken into small pieces using a rototiller.
The sod was put through a shipper shredder. This absolutely destroys the grass roots.
The broken sod was worked into the underlying soil.
A layer of good compost was applied and worked in.
A layer of wood chips was applied and worked in. This was to apply some fiber.
Since this bed won’t be used until next year a cover crop of annual clover was planted.
This process only takes about four hours of applied effort.