Last week I gathered up some folks to help dig a new vegetable garden with friends Natalina and Kiko and their new daughter, Lola.  Natalina grew up with gardening in San Antonio and Kiko spent part of his childhood on a coffee farm in Colombia, but this was their first Austin garden.  Martin Perna came out to help with the endeavor.

Natalina and I used to both volunteer with a youth organization here in Austin.   Kiko and Martin are both working musicians and took advantage of the workday to talk shop.

Natalina and Kiko’s east Austin house enjoys the same good blackland prairie soil that I have in my yard.  Even though they have a big backyard, we decided to start with one 4′ by 12′ raised bed.  That still provided plenty of space for Sugar Snap peas, broccoli, kale, beets, carrrots and a greens mix.

Interested in helping out a new gardener?  Check out our New Gardener contest.

Loosening the new ground with digging forks to make it easier to remove the bermuda grass and other vegetation.

We used the long and short handled CobraHeads to remove the bermuda grass.

Quit planning your next musical collaboration and get back to work.

Double digging the new bed. Hard work in the heavy clay.

Even before adding any compost, the soil gets a natural lift from the double digging.

Lola inspects the progress

Kiko adds compost to the bed.

Natalina waters in the seeds and seedlings with a fine mist

We took a break to enjoy fresh figs growing thirty feet from the garden.