Even with a leverage fork, it wasn't easy. That a great tool. BTW. The whole thing is solid metal and the bar behind it provides great leverage. It works great. You stab it into the soil then pull back.
When I came across a poison ivy plant in the bed, I stopped and went inside to wash my hands and arms and douse them with rubbing alcohol. I used to be immune to it. Several years ago, I developed a terrible case of it that lasted 2 weeks. I won't risk that again!
But I did dig up a real pile of vines as deep as I could get at the roots.
I'll dig up the poison ivy plants and deep as I can dig, and wearing rubber gloves for protection. I'll have a bucket of soapy water to put them into before I so much as touch a door to the house.
I'm getting there...
3 comments:
I have a suggestion about your beds.
I noticed the ends are butted one to another, then you brace them.
If you alternate them like a log cabin, then attach them, the external bracing would be eliminated, making it look neater.
Also, if you use landscaping timers, or are good with a drill with 2 by's, you can try this.
drill a hole down the corner, a half inch. ALL the way thru. Hammer a half inch piece of rebar thru the hole and into the ground.
It is amazing how strong that joint will be now.
da bear
Da Bear - You are quite right about the weak construction of that bed.
That was one of the first 2 beds I built almost 20 years ago, when I was big into "Square Foot Gardening".
I felt I could give up 3" of length rather than 3" width at the time. And I did do the overlapping on the 3'x3' box next to it.
I have been planning to rebuild the framed beds for a couple of years now (especially the trellis bed which is falling outwards in spite on braces). I will probably use the overlap and rebar construction idea then.
Thanks for the great suggestions!
I used the overlap method on the right front landsape box I built a few years later. It is very solid.
You might have noticed that I did not on the new left front landscape box. I was forced by dimensions. The area was 12'x8' plus a couple of inches. Butt-joints were the only way to reduce the gap at the house and step ends to the minimum.
Well, I had to make the outside corners meet. But even then, I could have simply bought longer boards and cut them to exact length for an overlap. I did it "cheap". That's not the way to go...
At least I put the braces on the INSIDE this time. ;)
Cavebear
That tool looks really handy, I'll have to check into getting one.
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