The Nightmare Garden

Since we have a huge yard; 3 acres, to be exact, I decided I should have a couple of gardens. I got a couple of plans and told my husband that all he needed to do was to let go of the purse strings and let me spend the money I needed to in order to get the gardens going, and to help me with any of the heavy physical work I might need to do. Now, here is the thing about projects like this, my husband and me: I always have the ideas, I always need money and my husband always changes things in some way so that my plans are no longer my plans. This has been the exact same pattern throughout our entire 18 year marriage. I should have known it would be the same thing with regard to this project.
I told my youngest daughter that she could have her own garden and I would have a vegetable/flower garden of my own. I have gathered most of what I need as far as seeds and plants, but now I need to get the beds going, and as usual, my husband is balking at helping me. Since the yard is just grass and weeds (it is a new house/property) the ground needs to be tilled in order to get the garden bed layed out. To make a LONG story a little shorter, we do not have a roto-tiller. My husband was hesitant to make arrangements to rent one because the weather is so unpredictable, and so now I have to come up with some other way to get what I want.
The other morning, my husband woke up all disgusted with me because he "had not slept a wink" because he was worried about tilling up my garden plot. Oh brother, what a terrible thing to waste sleep on! I told him not to worry about it, and once again, I have come up with a solution that cuts out what I wanted, but allows my daughter to have her own garden.
I decided to buy the supplies for a raised garden so that the ground will not have to be tilled. My husband will probably have to purchase some more topsoil, but at least he won't have to worry about the tiller. Today, his assignment is to check out the 8' x 8' raised garden kit that Costco is carrying. I wanted to order it online at www.costco.com, but of course my husband wants to see what it looks like and doesn't want to have to pay shipping. I have high hopes today, but I'll bet by this evening, my husband will come home and say, "I can just buy the hardware and build a raised garden for you--it will be a lot cheaper." And then guess what? My garden will never happen! I'll keep you posted on the outcome. In the meantime, I have strawberry plants and zinnias that are ready to be planted!