I began this blog three days ago to share the process of transforming our backyard into a food garden. In that short time, we've made decent progress.
One section of lawn has been dug up and the topsoil piled into rough garden beds. The digging up is the hardest part and since we're going the low-tech/cost-effective route, it means plenty of exercise.
We attacked the lawn with shovel and mattock, loosened the top 30cm or so of soil, and removed all the clods of grass. Then we broke the soil up a bit more with a pitchfork.
The soil has been piled into beds roughly 70cm wide, with 30cm paths in between - this 70/30 system works well for us, it's an efficient use of space while still leaving enough room to comfortably walk around and reach into the beds.
We've also put a fence up because our three dogs have zero respect for gardens.
This is what it looked like three days ago (bit of a mess):
This morning (getting there):
This afternoon (starting to take shape):
The next step will be tidying up the beds and conditioning the soil so it's ready for planting.