Sunflower exercise plan

This beautiful view is from Wonderlich Park looking out toward the bay (which is hiding behind some haze). My friend and I hiked here today, and as I tried to disguise my gasping and weezing up the hill, she blithely trotted on up, chatting the whole time. I guess that great workout I thought I was getting from walking the dog and working in the garden everyday needs to be ramped up.

After the hike, I stopped by to check on the school garden, and was so inspired by this:



that I immediately went to the nursery and bought five "Sundance Kid" sunflowers to put in my garden. Then I spent the next several hours fighting the patch of dirt in my backyard that was to become my sunflower forest. However, no amount of garden fork torque or brute force with the shovel could turn my newly designated flower bed into anything more than three inches deep of dusty, clotty, rocky dirt. I could hear it laughing at me as I propped up my tools in defeat and headed inside for a glass of anything with ice in it. Bah, who likes flowers anyway?

So now I'm sitting here, nursing my sore back and bruised green-thumb, trying to figure out if it's worth it to rent a Roto-tiller to plant a bed of five sunflowers. I suppose if I can just keep at it with the shovel and fork, maybe I'll be able to keep up with my friend on our hikes.