Bruce, Bermuda grass is a horrible plant. The worst weed in the garden. It's dormant right now, and it has deep roots. The rhizomes that run along the surface are apparently the worst part, but I think the whole thing can probably sprout. That said, it seems insane to till it all in, but that is indeed what we did. Why? Because till it or not, it will still end up in the garden, and the soil got such a soaking last year that it compacted to the point where it was difficult to work in. As the tiller made repeated passes my neighbor and I raked out chunks of root, and I took four heaping wheelbarrows full back to the compost. I'll be raking out there when I work in the garden for weeks to come.

I paid the friend with the tiller, and because the neighbor would never accept pay for helping on something like this, I sent him home with some frozen breaded fried eggplant from the garden. I know his wife used to cook eggplant that way when I gave them in the past, but she doesn't cook as much now so I give them the cooked vegetable. [And both of these people are friends, but I refer to friend and neighbor to help tell them apart here. :) ]

This afternoon I'll start working on some of the raised beds, blocking out where they'll go so I can establish paths, etc. With all of this manual labor I'll sleep well tonight.