It seems that it has been a long time coming. Finally, I was able to get soil for the three 4' x 12' raised beds that I started adding to the garden last spring. I actually got the dirt for my birthday; a very good present that I am happy with. Maybe the best present in a long while!
Jason helped me wheelbarrow the dirt in yesterday. He has become strong and was able to make the job go quickly.
The dirt wasn't the same as it has been in the past. Two and a half years ago, when I put the last top soil in the beds, the soil had been manufactured by a retired police officer who had access to cotton dust from the local cotton mills. (This according to the woman at Oak Ridge Shrubbery.) Since then, however, the mills have gone overseas and the cotton dust with it. I never knew that that was what the soil was composed of until I went to order the new soil. The new stuff is more of a traditional planting mix composed of a lot of compost and cow manure. I'm not opposed to it, I had just hoped for more of the same. Herodotus was right again. Things will always change.
One interesting fact that I had to deal with this time around was the volume that was delivered to the yard. The bed are roughly 4' x 12' x 1', or 48 cubic feet each or a total of 144 cubic feet, more or less. I ordered four yards of soil. In past orders, I certainly needed to supplement the soil delivered with compost to get the volume in the beds sufficient. Four yards should be roughly 108 cubic feet. So, what I don't quite understand is how I had more soil delivered than would fit in the three beds. I've never filled the beds completely to the top before. This time we filled the beds to the top and still had a little left over. The soil is much lighter than the cotton dust soil, so maybe it just expanded a bit and will eventually settle. I'm not sure.
I'm mostly just glad to get this done.
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