Last weekend, we prepped the vegetable garden. This sounds like a simple task, but it really was a fair bit of work. The first step was to till the Bermuda grass and transport some of the dirt/grass mix to the front and side of the casita; it will sprout from there in short order. The second order of business was to till up the remaining dirt and add 20 cubic feet of compost to it. It looked insufficient: the vegetable garden is 350-400 square feet. We tilled the compost, and Roomie raked it somewhat level. Then we sowed the "green manure" mix to winter over. There wasn't enough of that either, so Roomie went to Plants of the Southwest to pick up some more. To keep the birds off the seed and help retain moisture, we covered it all with a couple of bales of straw. The caliche soil will quickly consume any organic matter.

The idea is that come spring we shall till in the green manure before it goes to seed.

I am anticipating that we will invest in a small cultivator in order to chew up the grass that will surely grow between the plants.