I despaired when I pulled up the plastic. I mean, the clay felt great on bare feet, especially after we got ten inches of rain that month but I knew how expensive and time consuming it was going to be to replace it all.

I'll have to check out that forest book. Like I said, the back yard doesn't get a lot of light, but I don't have a whole lot of room in the front for veg, although I do squeeze it in around the ornamentals. My other problem is raccoons. They mostly leave the plants alone, prefering to screw with the water gardens, but then they'll decide to be destructive. They'll take bites out of green tomatoes and then literally smear the rest around the deck. So I'm experimenting to see what they'll leave alone.