Mapping out and stumping

You may recall that I was recently given a back yard to play with. Initially the owners gave me the whole backyard, but they later clarified and said I get a portion.

Tonight I met with the owners and mapped out the area for the garden, but it will be pretty big none the less. The owners gave me the best piece of land that the back yard has. They wanted me to have the best soil to work with and the soil with the least amount of rock in it. We talked about ways to kill the weeds and we talked about how he would like to see the land get developed. He has access to a bunch of steer and horse manure that we will be able to pour into the soil. He has a v8 pick-up truck and a double axle trailer to haul manure and top soil in. We think we know someone in the ward that has a tiller I can use, to till the manure and top soil in.

(I'm working in an area just right of the picture)

So all that is left is to start working the soil and getting it ready. Today was the first day in several weeks where I didn't cough (I think it's the donuts I had for breakfast that did the trick). So today was also my first day working the ground. I started by trying to remove a wroughted stump. Things were going well until I got about 4 inches down and broke a sprinkler pipe. The pipe was under the stump and the stump had grown around it. It was impressive to see (I'll try to get pics tomorrow). I ran out of daylight before I could get the stump out, so I'm hoping Monday has good weather.