Starting the real work

It's a dry day so I started lifting the slabs to form new vegetable beds.  It has been raining this week so the ground was wet and my boots and gloves were a real mess by the time I came in.  I got about 3/4 of the slabs up today, I'll need to move some furniture around to get at the rest.
I'm a bit worried about the ground beneath the slabs.  I hadn't really thought about it but of course the ground was prepared for paving so there is a grey sand on the earth.  I'm not sure what it is, cement perhaps?  anyway, I probably don't want to plant in it.  
Copious googling is not telling me what to do so I'm going to have to make it up as I go along.  I know that moss and dandelions can grow in it but I don't eat them!


I also met one of our garden residents:

This little frog is very cute in real life but manages to make me shriek every time he surprises me.