I was outside at 6:00 AM, putting the last two beds together. The temperature was in the mid-40s, a departure from the 80- and 90-degree weather of a few days ago. I finished one bed by about 7:00 and realized that my measurements were off and the layout I had planned would not work. I switched the fourth tomato bin with one of the bigger bins with rounded ends. I called Noah around 7:30 and he said that they were almost ready to leave but needed to do some work on the machine they were going to use to move the soil as it hadn’t been run in a couple of years. That gave me a little breathing room. They arrived around 8:00 and I explained the game plan to Noah. They would do any necessary leveling of the beds.

They started loading the soil and I continued work on the last bin. As they progressed, it became obvious that I was way off in my calculation of the amount of soil needed. We’ll need another 6 or seven yards at least! They wrapped up around noon and will be back on Memorial Day, weather permitting. That will give me time to rebuild the two wooden beds.

After they left, I headed up to Countryside in Crystal Lake. They had no Mortgage Lifter tomatoes or Mexican Tarragon. I did grab some okra even though I am not ready to plant it. I drove home and grabbed some lunch and then took a nap as I was exhausted. More exhausted than I’ve been in a long time.

I headed over to Goebbert’s around 3:30 and they were out of Mortgage Lifter tomatoes also and the pepper plants were small. There was only one large Jalapeno plant left, and it looked half dead. Then I realized that Monday is probably a terrible day to go to a Nursery as they are cleaned out from the weekend and haven’t re-stocked yet.

I drove home and started planting everything that I could. My stated goal was to have the garden in my May 19th and I think I would call this a win. The essential plants are planted and the rest will only be a week late if we can avoid rain on Memorial Day. Considering the massiveness of this revision, I am happy.