On April 24th I began double digging the first arced bed of our circular garden. The soil is covered with a thick thatch of grasses which are just starting to green up (see photo to right) . The soil temperature at 5" depth was 52 F. I observed a few earthworms at work and the soil moisture was just about perfect for working the soil.
This year I allowed the "thatch/sod" layer to dry out in the sun for a short period and then gave it a "belly rub" to remove the loose or loosely adhering soil and micro flora and fauna. As this was rubbed or drummed off it became obvious that it had the texteur of vermicomposted materials - beautiful from a gardener's point of view.
The photo on the left will give you an idea of the thickness of the organic material left after the adherents had been rubbed off. The soil temperature at a 16" depth was 47 F. 
And this is what the first arc looked like with the first two flat shovel widths double dug, composted and turned over. 
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