An actual gardening post

Okay, those of you playing at home might recall that we endured 2+ months this summer with giant swathes of plastic covering vast acreage in the backyard. The plan? Solarizing out the dreaded bermuda grass--literally cooking it to death in the Texas sun. (Finally, August is good for something!) Back in mid-Sept, I removed the plastic and raked up bag after bag of dead grass...more than 10 of those big paper yard waste sacks in all. Then I vigilantly combed the ground for sprigs of green, hitting them very judiciously with Roundup. I don't like using it, but I'd priced out having a team of pros come dig out the remaining grass for me and um, we don't have $900. Anyhoo, on Monday my friend RK came over and rototilled the whole shebang. And now I have nearly 3000 square feet of freshly tilled earth! Today, I went to Whittelsey Landscape Supplies and ordered 2 tons of limestone to start building beds and edging off the grass area. I did the research and the prices around town are roughly similar -- it'd cost you 30 bucks less to have it delivered in bulk, rather than neatly stacked on a pallet. However (lucky me!), they didn't have any bulk in the size I wanted, so I got the bulk price for palletized stone!! Arriving tomorrow!!! So, now you know what I'm doing this weekend. I must say, I actually really like working with stone. I'm not expert at it (probably a little too haphazard to get it completely perfect), but I like doing it. In my old garden, I put in stone edging without tilling up the ground first. Let me just say, that's a huge nightmare if you are (as I was there and am here) dealing with never-before-worked soil. I really could've used a jackhammer. But last night, I took a few leftover limestone blocks that I have and tried laying them in the new garden area. It's a snap! The soil is workable, and I put in about 4 feet of edging in under an hour. Will the wonders of modern machinery never cease? In general, I'd prefer to be a no-till, no-pesticide gardener. And Lord knows, I'm working my way there. But when you're the Head Gardener and a Crew of One (though M does help now and then...he just doesn't like to get dirty), sometimes you gotta bring in the big guns. If you got nothing better to do this weekend, c'mon over and help me move stone. Bring your own wheelbarrow.