The spreading of the wood chips is going slow but steady.  Of course we got the weather with temperatures in the high 80’s and 90%+ humidity the week after we obtained this huge pile of free wood chips.  We’ve learned that continually making small steps in the right direction will be met with huge results in the longer term.

One task that is slowing this project down just a little is in obtaining free cardboard to lay down under the wood chips to help kill the weeds and grass underneath.  Admittedly we have not been diligent in getting the cardboard, so the slow progress is honestly self induced.  The cardboard will break down nicely over time, as will the wood chips, thus conditioning the soil underneath and eventually building the soil back up to a state that would allow for some direct planting into the ground just outside of the garden boxes.  I’ve seen one fellow on Youtube who now drives in some steel electrical conduit (like we’ve used for our trellis) and prunes his indeterminate tomato plants to a single vine which he gently ties to the steel pole for support.  In several years when our soil is conditioned, we may try this technique.

Genesis 3:17-19

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”