Got the rest of the sod pulled up. It's lying face-down on my porch to dry out and expire.
Used my edger to turn the soil about 6 inches deep. Raked it out and, because it had been turned, it completely filled the hole where it and the sod had been. Lots of worms. Some shallow roots from my huge silver maple maybe 30 feet away.
Added what soil I could from the small bed I had dug up. Many roots from my single eggplant. I used all but the most densely matted roots.
Backed my pickup up to the bed and dumped the first bag of Miracle Grow organic soil in. And immediately saw why the bags were so heavy. The soil was soaked! It glistened! Like if you soaked a potted plant until the water ran out the bottom. Well almost like that. Much wetter than the soil I had been working after a day of rain (my plastic tarp blew partly off). In any case, the 40-pound net weight bags were much heavier and I am not quite the physical wreck I had seemed. Which was confirmed later when I had no trouble moving two 75-pound sand bags.
So all six bags went in and filled the bed right to the top of the 2x10 sides. After which I read the instructions and saw that I was supposed to mix the new soil 50/50 with my dug-up soil. Too late. Also finally read what's in the new soil. Compost, peat, composted manure, chicken droppings. The worms should be happy. Altogether I now have about 16 inches of well-turned soil. My roots should be happy too.
Too tired and back-achey to put my seeds in. Need to let the soil dry out a bit so I can break up the clumps. Tomorrow.
In closing, I wish to express my deepest regret to the families of any earthworms who were inadvertently bisected during my onslaught. I can only hope there's some comfort in knowing that they gave their lives so that other worms could have the best soil on the block.
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