I finished turning the area underneath and east of our back yard lemon tree. I'd estimate it's about a 20 foot by 6 foot rectangle, plus a jagged area directly under the lemon tree.
It took parts of three days to complete. I turned most of the dirt by hand on Friday. Yesterday I finished turning it by hand. Today my wife laid down gypsum and amendments while I added compost. I used the Mantis to turn the materials into the dirt. Then I put on another layer of our organic compost and used the Mantis again.
I used about a quarter of the remaining compost.
I pulled out a few rocks in this area but it was no big deal at all. Overall the rock pile could fit into a one gallon plant container. For those unfamiliar with that reference, don't think one gallon of water. The one gallon plant container size about the same size as a normal half gallon milk carton. So this is a much cleaner area that what I had first turned.
Also note that a plantable area shouldn't be completely rock free. But just out of force of habit I always take them out. The back yard is too rocky, so I toss 'em if I see 'em.
The trouble was it took five or six days before I started digging. It was rainy, it was quite cold and I had a bad cold during this period. So we lost some time.
Next item to be done: Manually pulling the grass out of the recently turned 9 foot by 9 foot area. This will be tedious.
