I was able to rototill the miniature garden area. The soil is part clay and part sand. I’ll amend it tomorrow with the organic garden soil.
I installed simple French drains at the top of the path that leads to the garden. The drains will divert extra water to bushes on the side and to an area planted with jasmine which will climb up the fence, hopefully blocking the neighbor’s yard.
The neighbor’s yard was also draining into this garden area so now I have put composted leaves next to the fence and have contained the area with some leftover planter boards. I’ll fill the beds with composted wood chips (from the tree taken down) after I plant the jasmine there.
I am covering the front of those boards with cut wood to evoke a stockade wall. The wall reminds me of the worst movie even made of a good idea: M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village. The wall keeps people in an artificial village, just like this one. Bad movie, though.
The Wonder of Miniature Worlds 