Recalculating

I'm thinking that it may be best not to try and plant the vegetable garden this summer. Getting an idea of the amount of work and expense it's going to be to get it ready, it may just be impractical at this point to try and force it--it's almost too late to plant summer vegetables already. Judging by yesterday's labors, doing the entire vegetable garden by hand is going to be next to impossible--the strawberry plants only need 8-12 inches for their roots, but the garden needs to be worked to about 2 feet. So I'm looking at options, like hiring a guy with a tractor to come and drag the plot with a rock rake and/or bringing in some quality topsoil to put down. Parts of the garden have been cut down to the clay anyway in leveling it out, so they're going to need some good soil added back in.

Also, I need to bring in some topsoil to finish the yard area and plant the grass, and if I've already got the garden in, it's going to block access for the truck, and I'll have to cart the soil from the driveway one wheelbarrow full at a time.

Probably the best thing is to be patient, get it done right, and plant next spring. I may get some cool-weather fall vegetables in, in August--lettuces and broccoli and such. And I think I'll put some tomatoes in the large pots I've got the grapevines in now, once they're planted in the ground, and time them so that they'll be ready at the same time as the lettuce; at least get a few salads out of it this year. The key to a good plan is flexibility. I'd rather take longer and do it right than rush and do it poorly.

This will probably work out best anyway. It's looking like it will be at least August before I'm ready to start eating again, maybe later. I never know when I'm going to hit a plateau in my weight loss, and I don't really know exactly at what weight I'll be when I've reached my goal of proper bodyfat percentage; I'm judging by visual appearance more than scale weight.

A little disappointing, but the rewards will be worth it next year. I'm not going to get any fruit off my trees and vines this year anyway, so I'll just treat this as a preparatory year and next year it will begin paying off.