You can never have too much garden

One of the first nice sunny days that I had off work and I headed out to the back garden to see what I could do.  Last year, I discovered that, while it was large enough to hold all my plants, things were too crowded to be spectacular.  So, when my neighbor took down a tree last fall that had formerly shaded the left side of the yard, I decided that I would expand.  Maybe it's hard to tell, but the right side you see in the photo is the old garden covered with a layer of shredded leaves.  There are still a dew plants growing in there, but mostly it's ready for new plantings.  The left side, full of rich, brown, crumbly dirt, is new.  I spent all afternoon outside in the warm sunshine digging out the sod by hand.  A back breaking job, but I love it even still.
All in a day's work, and then I headed out to get some compost.  After loading it up (along with 2 bags of sand for the girls' sandbox, I realized I was going to have to push all 710 pounds of it to the register and load it in the car.  Oh, well...one of those "superwoman" moments.  Yes, I did it...by myself.  Never say I can't get the job done!
So, the next task is to spread out the compost and dig it in.  I typically choose to do it by hand, feeling that this keeps the natural components of the soil more intact.  And then, the waiting until time to plant, which, in my area is still 6 weeks away.
On a disappointing note...a few of my precious tomato seedlings appear to have succumbed to the dreaded damping off fungal disease.  I had no problems with this last year, but I checked on my seedlings just now to find three of them bent over at soil level and one dead.  I have two flats of tomato seedlings growing and lots of other goodies, too.  I don't even know how to prevent the spread at this point.  I keep my seedlings in good air circulation and never overwater, but I still see the signs of trouble.  Ugh.  I'm just praying now that the whole tray won't go down...and especially that it won't spread to other trays nearby.  I have a lot invested in those babies!
Even with this sad moment in my day, my spirits are soaring as I have had a full day of sunshine and lots of dirt under my nails...a sure sign of success in my book!