Persistent and deep roots

My tatami row finally neared the other end of the plot. Back when I dug out all the bamboo roots, on that side I didn't go all the way to the very edge and had left a meter wide strip untouched. Now was the time to take care of that too since the tatami needed to go over it.

So I marked the border with a plastic string tied between a couple of perfectly positioned trees and started digging and removing roots. I had forgotten how big and hardy those roots are. Anyway, it took some hard digging and now I have a nice and clean border to west as well. I don't have any plastic root barriers to put there though, so I decided to just put a couple of logs which hopefully will serve as barriers.

Is that a root I see?

dig a bit more to see where it's heading

hacked out some of it...

Anyway, it took some heavy lifting and the logs were in position.

Yes, some of the "Art" had to go in there too

Now I figure my "hills" where saplings are planted will be as wide as a tatami length, and it just so happens that my tatami path between the hills reach almost exactly to the "barrier" logs I just put there.

And since all the tatami rows are supposed to be connected, I will make a tatami path alongside the west border, by connecting my tatami rows together using an additional tatami mat between each couple of rows. So basically seen from above my 3 first tatami rows will form an "E" shape.

The purple string hangs exactly where my plot's border is

It feels a bit wasteful to dump good soil under the tatami where I am supposed to walk, so I backfill as much as I can with logs and bamboo chips before I top it with dirt. You can start to see where my paths will be by looking at how the logs are positioned. A bit more digging and hauling, and I had my first "left turn" defined.

I am so tired at this point

Now back when I dug out these parts with the backhoe, I dumped a lot of the soil in tiny hills further toward the middle of the plot. After I have finished placing the tatamis on top of the logs, I will be returning the soil from those hills back where it belongs, to both sides of my tatami rows.

I want to put back soil starting from east to west, so that I will not be trampling it too much where the saplings are supposed to go. Therefore, I will need to be able to go back and forth with my wheelbarrow around the west corner which is shown in the above picture.

But as it is now, the wheelbarrow cannot really climb there, so I will make a tiny dirt path around that corner to make the moving of the soil smoother.

First, it needs to be backfilled with bamboo chips...

Something like this... 

Next I will just need to dump some clay on top of that and my wheelbarrow will be able to run over it.