Main Annual Bed

Finally got THAT done!  I was very pleased with the clearance sale orange zinnias I found at Walmart last year that I decided to plant zinnias myself this year.  But I found 2 I liked so I decided to make a pattern with both rather than just 1 big block.  One solid orange, and one mostly white with some slight pink stripes.  I'm calling it the Marley Bed (orange and white, get it?).

Since I came out with 27 each out of 36 seeds planted.  But what pattern of planting?  Well, I could have done "half and half", "alternating rows", or "every other one", but making dots on paper I realized I could make all the outside ones orange and all the inner ones white.  Well, that seemed different, so I went with that.

Now, planting things in a pattern can be tricky, so I made a measuring stick to help.  I found a 1"x2"x6' board and marked one side with 12" measurements and the other side with 9" measurements (actually, it was so useful I am going to mark the other 2 sides in 6" and 10" measurements).

I had eyeballed the general area of the bed.  It's wider at the back than the front.  And my eyeball measurements weren't perfect, so I had to adjust slightly.  With the measuring stick, I realized it was a bit wider at the back than I thought, so instead of perfect 9" spacing between plants, I used 12" spacing along the rows and 9" spacing between the rows.

Here is the before picture.

7' wide at the back, 5' wide at the front, and 6' deep.  Interesting geometric space to lay out.  I dug the soil up with my leverage fork, broke up all the soil clumps bigger (by hand) than a pingpong ball, and lifted out all the weeds.  Then raked as best I could.  Tossed the small rocks to the fence...  You can see a bit of soaker hose in the picture.  I pulled it all loose and set it aside.  I'll put it back in place next year.

And started planting.  The measurement stick really helped!  I use a bulb planterto make the holes for the seedlings. then add some fine topsoil to encourage root expansion and set the seedlings on that after loosening some of the roots.  Then add more fine soil to fill the hole.

 

But this year, using the measuring stick, I was able to plug out all the holes for a whole row at once.  Much better spacing than eyeballing it!  No matter how many years I go planting, I always learn something new each year.  I'll probably be getting it just about right by the time I die.

I didn't take pictures as I went (when you are "in the zone" you don't want to stop), but here is the completed bed.

Not all the seedlings had flowers, so I had to be careful to leave one flowering plant in each 6-pack as I went along so I could tell the color on the flowers remaining.

I ended up with one each orange and white zinnia at the end.  I'll put them in a container with the other orphans (I have salvia and forget-me-nots too).

I set up my new tripod-waterer after I was done planting.  The soil was dry as dust!  The previous tripod waterer had a shower wand on it, but I discovered last year that a fan waterer was better (wider area with less depth works better than circles for my beds).

I made a temporary try last year, and it was much more effecient at watering.  So I gave the back half 10 full minutes of full power watering, then 10 full minutes at the front half.  A lot easier with the fan spray as opposed to the round shower spray wand.

This may sound odd, but I will be cutting off all the flowers tomorrow.  I needed them to know which seedlings to plant for the pattern, but with the flowers cut off, more energy will go to the rrot development and the plants will send out more stems to become busier and grow MORE flowers in just a few weeks. 

I'll be sending more pictures of THAT!

Flowerbed Work

Well, while I'm working on the veggie garden, I can't ignore needing to plant the annual flowers I've raised indoors starting late January.  So I took out the leverage fork ( wonderful tool) and turned over all the soil in the large annual flower area of the flowerbed.

I like to listen to classical music while working, so I brought out an old (small) boom box and plugged it in with the outdoor extention cord I keep on the deck.  Got all the tools I needed fron the shed.  Ready to do some serious hard digging work (the bed was infested by some spreading grass weed years ago, and I've been eliminating it rather successfully over the past few years.

But just as I turned on my radio, the neighbor decided to mow his lawn.  So much for music...

SO, I started at the back and used the leverage fork (best invention since the shovel). 

 I went along the back row and did the same after stepping back 8" all the way to the front of the bed.  Then went and pulled out all the regular weeds but shoved my hands into the loosened soil to get those DAMN spreading grass runners from under the soil.  And I took the time to crush the hard clumps of soil as I went.

Well, you can't plant in hard clumps of soil, and breaking them up by hand is great finger-exercise!  I accumulated quite a pile of weeds and grass roots too.  I'll spread them out on a tarp in the sunlight to kill them before I add them to my compost pile.

I didn't plant the flowers there today.  For one thing, I want the soil to dry at the surface so I can rake it more easily, second, it is easier to see lines I draw in the soil to mark where where the new flowers go, and 3rd, it is easier to find and crush any remaining clumps of soil when they are dry.

Resting after the digging, I diagrammed my planting pattern.  I planted 36 each of a white and 36 of an orange zinnia and (by random happenstance) got 27 healthy plants of each.  So that suggested some designing.  They both grow to the same size, so I could have planted a few rows of one in the back and the rest in the front in big blocks (as usual), but I came up with something different.

The area is wide in the back and narrower in the front, so there were lots of odd patterns I could try.  Alternating the colors could be good, but as the rows got narrower towards the front, I couldn't keep thew pattern going.

I'm SO pleased with myself (yes, I admire my creative thinking often), but it took an hour of drawing rows of dots on scrap paper before I hit a pattern that used my 27 white zinnias and my 27 orange ones.

The bed will be outlined in orange zinnias and the center will be filled with white ones this year.  Hey, some people like the same patterns every year; I don't.  Last year, I did blocks.

Garden Renovation

Wow, it's been a week since I last posted...

I started renovating the garden area in April and found really hard work there.  I had put down various layers of weed-blocking material over the years, and they got covered with dirt.  LOTS of dirt!  Vining weeds grew among them and tree roots from the neighbor's' trees got in there too.

Pulling and cutting them all up was HORRIBLE!  It all falls into the "I can't believe I thought that was a good idea at the time" category!  I pulled the stuff up by brute strength mere inches at a time.  I shoved a 6' breaker bar under it all and pried it loose.  I cut it into manageable chunks with a curved rug-cutting knife and a razor knife.

I estimate it took 40 hours of hard frustrating work.  And it's not complete YET.  But is IS cut and removed for the area I want to rebuild framed beds with a chicken wire enclosure to keep the evil squirrels out.

I'm 64.  I can't do the hard work like I could when I was 35.  I had to do all of it 1 hour work, 1 hour rest inside and drinking gatorade to replenish.

But I finished it...

A few days ago, I hooked up a small yard cart (about 2.5 feet by 4 feet) to my riding lawn mower and started heaving the heavy sodden pieces of underlays into the trailer.  Then I drove my mower to the front yard and heaved those pieces into the 5'x8' hauling trailer.  It damn near killed me.  Then I drove the hauling trailer to the landfill, along with other junk and regular trash I have collected.  And hauled it all off again.  That means I had to handle each damn piece of underlay 4 times. 

Fortunately, I designed my hauling trailer so that I can remove the back and just drag all the junk off the back end.  And pulling the junk DOWN is going to be  LOT easier than lifting it UP.

The rest of the work is moving good garden soil from the existing (falling-apart) beds, breaking the old frames apart (and removing the old wood), leveling the new surface, building new beds, and moving the good garden soil to the new beds.

And even THAT won't be straight-forward work.  Since I'm rebuilding where the existing beds are (only place in my yard with half-decent sunlight), I have to do it in stages.  My old beds were small 8'x3' framed beds; the new ones will be 16'x4' (more space efficient because there is less wasteful path-space between them).  I will more than double my planting area in the same overall space.

I've moved enough existing soil and old frames to built the first new 16'x3' bed.  Then I will empty the existing beds soil into that.  Then I can tear THAT old wood apart and level THAT space and built the 2nd new framed 16'x3' bed. And THEN finally tear the old frames apart for the 3rd new framed bed...

WHEW!  And because the new beds will require more soil than the old ones, I'll only be filling each 1/2 way with existing soil.  So I'll be hauling in compost to mix in and fill the new ones. 

The good news is that the soil I've already dug up and piled onto other beds is now loose and easy to move.  The old soil had vine and tree roots in it and was Hard-As-Hell to dig into and move and I also had to spend time pulling the roots out of the soil lest they grow new Evil Plants.

My main gardening is not going to happen this year.  By the time I finish this rebuilding project, it will be too late to even plant crops for Fall harvest.  Fortunately, I took some space from my annual flowerbed to plant heirloom tomatoes, flat italian beans, and seedless cucumbers.  And I have bicolor corn, fingerling potatoes, and leeks growing in large containers.  Those are my favorite crops, as they are either expensive or difficult to find in local grocery stores.

Some pictures...

Prying up the old carpet.  Note the black plastic below that.  And there was synthetic (unrottable) "burlap" below that.

Had to pry it loose from below and the sides.

One of MANY piles of heavy pieces of cut carpet.  The pieces are deceptively heavy.

The lost herb bed.  I finally just dug it all up.  I'll start a new herb bed,

A 4" diameter tree trunk I had to dig out.  With axe, shovel, and pry-bar.

The first area cleared of soil, vines, unwanted tree saplings, and old frame wood.

A corn-planting container.  I have 3.  It's a month-old picture.  The 8 corns are 6" high, and I've planted leeks in between the corn .

I won't have a "normal" garden this year, but I'll get by.  Next year, I'll have a fine new enclosed garden the damn squirrels, rabbits, and groundhogs can't get into!

Back To Work

I spent the last week getting over the 2 teeth extracted.  But I got back to yard work yesterday morning.  One thing I read about was growing corn in bins. Well, guess what, I just happened to have some!  THe County recycling system changed from carryable bins to one huge one, and they didn't want the old smaller bins back. 

So now they are 3'x2' x18" planting containers!  So I'm recycling recycling bins, LOL!  I'm goin to use them to empty out soil in the raised framed beds and plant corn in them in the sunniest part of the the yard.  But thaose bins needed soil, AND I had to clear some space in the old garden for new raised beds.

So first, I had to level the old box with a butternut tree and some roses.

It took 30 minutes of hard chopping and digging to clear the first framed bed out.  Here is just part of the butternut tree and roots.  They actually spread 10' in all directions.  Digging and chopping them out took most of the time.

Then, it was on to the old lost herb bed. 

There were still herbs in there, but things had gotten so confusing that I decided to just start again.  I dug that right to ground level.  I'm any herbs survive that I recognize, I'll save them.

Then I started emptying the old trellis framed bed into the bins.  Which I discovered were WAY too heavy to carry.  I tied a hand cart, but even with a strap around it, it was too awkward to move (with all the dug-up carpet, there was no path out of the garden area). 

So I switched to 5 gallon buckets to carry to a wheelbarrow.  That works, but it was slow work.  And quite frankly, after staying up all last night and doing this hard work in the morning, I went to bed.  Best I could do was strapping the bins to the handcart, and that was too awkward to move around.

More Garden Work

Well, after the first 2 sessions pulling up and cutting the garden path carpet, I attacked it again today after a day's rest.  Fortunately, I got better at it as I went along.  I scraped soil and vines off the top, used my flat spade to cut along the edges, wore leather gloves to make it easier to pull vines loose, and also used the spade to slide under the carpet to pry it up loose from roots. 

I finished the carpet removal today (well, there is some left but it is outside of my project area).  As in all projects, you get good at the hardest parts by the time you are done.  I should mention the spade.  Years ago, I found an all metal spade for sale and bought one.  The first one bent and the seller was shocked but replaced it as having a defect.  The replacement has lasted 15 years or so and seems indestructable.  I love using it!

And I should also mention that, yeah, I could hire some guys to do this work.  I could afford it, and if I found the right people, they might even do the job better.  But the point is to actually do the work myself.  Meaning no disrespect, but following the very good logic of hiring people to do gardening work, I should just shop at the grocery stores and farmers markets.  But I mostly garden for the pleasure of the effort (even when sometimes the effort seems overwhelming) because the harvest is more satisfying.

I don't garden to save money.  It is nearly impossible to beat a commercial farm for efficiency of cost.  But I have never been able to buy a Cherokee Purple or Brandywine tomato that tasted as good as one straight from the garden.  And the same is true of much corn and other crops.  Some crops, I can't find anywhere. 

And I have to have something productive to do.  I suppose that if I wasn't gardening, I would be building birdhouses, raising tropical fish, or constructing string art.  Something...

My preference is to grow things.  And that takes WORK!  This garden enclosure is likely to be one of the last major yard projects (I do still want to renovate my 8' circular fish pond too).  So doing this before I get too old to try is important.

I'm being careful.  I do hard work for 15-30 minutes and I stop for an hour to rest.  I have a good sense of "how much is too much".  I have always avoided "work til you drop".  In a way, that is just showing off, and it is risky. 

Projects aren't competitions.  They are goals with purposes.  My purpose in this project is to establish a limited, well-organized gardening area free of squirrel, groundhog, and rabbit destruction.

I have thought about how to change my existing 8'x3' beds into the longer (more efficient) 16"x4' beds.  Dreams are wonderful things.  I woke up suddenly a couple nights ago realizing that the two 4'x4' beds were exactly within the space I needed for the first 16'x4' bed.  I just need to dig/chop out the tree saplings and fading 20 year old rose bushes for one and pot up the herbs from the other (for later replanting).

Then I can build the first (of three) 16'x4' frame around them and start transferring soil from the other 8'x3' beds to that one.  Then I can break apart those old frames (of the emptied beds) and build the other two 16'x4' framed beds.  Those framed beds will need new soil  (I will have used up most all my existing soil in the 1st framed bed).

When the beds are built and filled, I can construct the enclosed structure around them (he said with unsupported confidence, LOL!).  That part should be a lot easier...

And I figure I have about 2 weeks to do that before planting season gets too late.  Wish me luck!

Garden Renovation

I'm having some doubts about my plan to rebuild the garden with new beds and enclosing the space in chicken wire!  Everything I think I need to do first has something else to do before that.  You may recall that I took apart the frames from two 4'x4' beds a few days ago. 

Well, when I went out today to start to dig out an old tree and some brambles in one of them, I realized that I had to remove the carpet in the paths between them (and between ALL the framed beds first.  Digging out a old tree (mostly just roots with persistent suckers I have been trying to kill for 10 years) takes more room than just the 4x4 frame removed.

Why did I have carpeting between the framed beds?  Well, as the guy who jumped into the cactus patch said "It seemed like a good idea at the time".  But seriously, it DID seem like a good idea 20 years ago.  I had just switched from carpet to wood floors, I had all this leftover carpet, I was building framed beds with muddy weedy paths, and smothering the weeds with the leftover carpet seemed like a good idea.  I even put black plastic sheeting under the carpet so weeds couldn't grow through the carpet.

Weeds are astonishingly determined...

The carpet is nearly impossible to pull up.  It is in 3' wide paths, and 2 decades of vines have sent roots into the plastic below and the carpet above.  Not above the carpet (even weeds and vines have limits).  But the roots interlock, and they do best at the edges.  Yanking the carpet up was like pulling old plywood siding off walls by hand.  It was inch by inch prying it up with several tools.

And it was HEAVY!  I finally had to cut through it every 4' and the cutting did not go easily.  You would think that 20 year old carpet would just fall apart.  No way!  I have an old carpet knife my Dad made back in the early 50s (seriously, he worked in a machine shop at the time and made stuff like that "for fun") and I keep it sharp (it is VERY useful for many things).  Its curved like a 5" scimitar. 

Even using THAT every 4' of carpet took hard work.  And the pieces of carpet seem to weigh a ton!  There is inches of soil attached from plant roots, the carpet is wet and carpet is heavier than you may think.  Its all 40 lbs of dead weight.  I pick it up and it sags all over.  I finally learned to fold it in 3rds to carry it to a place to pile it up (where I will use the riding lawn mower and a tow cart to bring it to the hauling trailer so I can bring it too the landfill.

It took 3 hours to pull half of the carpet up.  It was 6pm, so I stopped to go inside and make dinner.  That's when the hand cramps started!  I live a life of general activity punctuated with intense activity (like today) and muscle cramps are not new to me.  But these were bad.

Everytime I clenched my hand (however lightly) around a knife handle and tried to open a bottle or jar, my left hand muscles seized up painfully until I massaged them  few minutes.  That lasted for about 5 minutes until the next cramp.  Then the right hand started...

I either have to do less physical work or more.  I think I'll try more.  And more regularly! 

But the point is that there is a LOT more to this project than I realized at first.  There are tree roots (from neighbor trees) under the carpet paths, there are evil vines.  And I still have to dig up the tree stump an suckers from that one 4x4 bed and dig out the brambles and roses I don't want in the garden.  This could take a couple of weeks, and I'm not 40 anymore.

I might have to adapt my plan to do half this Spring and the rest next Fall. 

Grafting Tomatoes

I'd been hesitating about trying this grafting of heirloom tomato tops onto hybrid roots.  The benefits seem genuine (vigorous and disease-resistant roots growing complexly-flavorful heirloom tomatoes).  But it seemed complicated.  Growing rootstock and heirloom tomatoes so the stem sizes matched, cutting both the stems so that the cuts matched, fastening a small soft silicon clip to hold the pieces together, creating an enclosed humidified recovery, etc.

I knew I wanted to try it, but I don't have "soft steady hands" and some of the humidifying arrangements I saw on the internet seemed elaborate, but I thought about it all for a while.

Well, it was certainly easy enough to plant enough hybrid and heirloom tomatoes for both grafting AND backups in case all the grafts failed.  I found the silicon clips at several sites and ordered some a month ago. I had stumbled across a 4-shelf plant stand with a zippered plastic enclosure for keeping plants warm outside and I realized that it was a fine humidifier device if I filled the lower 3 shelves with pans of water (later).

I had a razor Exacto knife) for cutting the stems.  I even had a 4" piece of wood cut at a 45 degree angle left over from the trailer work!  My goodness, I had everything I needed!

So with the trailer work complete and it being a rainy day, I collected everything on the basement workbench (and after some thought through the procedures, brought a few things upstairs to a table with good light).

It seemed to me the pattern was to transplant the hybrid rootstocks from little 6-packs to individual 3" pots to allow root growth, bring them all upstairs with the silicon clips and razor blade, fill the lower plant stand shelves with pans of water, and then make sure I had enough labels for all the new grafted heirloom tops.

That's when I realized I had made a serious mistake.  I hadn't examined the silicon clips carefully when the y arrived.  They are an "8" shape, but with one"o" larger than the other (like a snowman bottom and a snowman head).  I had assumed the larger "o" was for the tomato stems.  NOPE!  The clipping part was the small "o", and about as thin as pencil lead.  I should have done the grafting when the tomato seedlings were about 3" high, not 9"!

So I tried something creative and resourceful.  I used the larger "O" part!  I eyeballed the spot on the rootstocks where the stem size matched the "O" and cut a 45 degree angle above that.

Then fit the silicon clip ofer the cut stem and slid it down to where it was snug.  Made a new cut just above that.  Then I eyeballed the heirloom tops ("scions") and cut below that to be careful.

Testing the fit, I cut the scion stem narrower until it "just" fit into the "O" and matched the angles snugly.

I hope that all makes sense.  I used the silicon clips to measure the matching stem diameter and set them together at the matching angled cuts.

To make sure I didn't confuse the heirloom tops, I only brought one variety upstairs at a time , and made sure I had enough (and only enough) variety labels for each.  Because when you cut off the tops of the rootstock tomatoes and the tops of the heirloom tomatoes, they sure look a lot the same!

The other surprise was how FAST the grafted heirloom tops just wilted!

I did not realize how FAST plants transpire.  In just 15 minutes, the first grafted tops had wilted right over like cooked lettuce!  The enclosed humidity and darkness of the recovery chamber is supposed to help with that.  I I think I will also spray the tops several times per day.  The tomato grafting sites say the grafts need about a week of darkness along with the humidity, so after I zippered the plastic cover, I tossed a sheet over the whole stand.

Wish me luck!

And the first concern is resolved.  The enclosed stand with the pans of water on the other shelves caused the plastic cover to fog up within just 2 hours.  So the humidity is high.  And below the stand is a thick towel on a sheet of plastic so the drip won't damage the wood floor.  I may not think of everything in a new project, but I sure try!

I'll have some idea about the success in a few days.  If the grafted tops  are more erect in a few days, it means they are receiving moisture from the roots and the graft is healing.  If I recall enough from high school botany, the zylem and floem (one sends nutrients up and the other down) will be working and the connection between rootstock and scion top will be solid.

And if they fail?  Well, I have enough heirloom seedling and 2 Big Beef hybrids for the standard plantings of past years.  I'm no worse off.

But my big surprise is that it seems a lot easier that I feared.   It just took trying it to do it.

Garden Layout

Megan asked why the garden beds "should be true square feet".  A good question.

There is a home gardening system by Mel Bartholomew based on planting home crops by square feet.   Generally, I have used it.  It works by rotating crops through square feet, never letting any space be unused.  It works, but you have to keep at it.  A square foot of radishes, a square foot of carrots, etc.  You learn the best spacing for crops.  16 radishes per square foot, 9 carrots, etc.  It does make easy planting.  As I understand it, it is an adaptation of French Intensive Row Planting.

I try to keep at it, but it takes planning.  Still, I want my framed beds to be in true square feet of interior size.  The interior size is the problem.  The boards you use to make the framed bed take up some space.  So you have to use boards that are longer by their thickness.

It isn't TOO complicated.  To make a 4'x4' soil framed bed, you need boards that are 4' 1.5 inches on all sides because the boards are 1.5" thick.  If you just use exactly 4' boards, some of the last squares are 12"'x9" (12" -[1.5"x2]).

So in my framed bed plans, I have to make the the framed boards a few inches larger than the square feet.  An 8'x4' bed actually has to have boards 8' 3" and 4' 3".  It makes the details a bit insane!

Fortunately, there are some shortcuts.  If there are 4 beds (8 boards total), then that takes 12" of space (8*1.5").  If I didn't take that in to account, then the paths between the beds would be too small for my 24" wide wheelbarrow,

Properly arranged, my beds allow my wheelbarrow.  An inch wrong, it doesn't.  So, my constructed beds must have outside dimensions larger than the true square feet inside but allow the wheelbarrow just barely. 


I hope that all makes sense.

And Megan, you sent me your email once but I lost it,  Would you send it again?  cavebear2118 AT verizon DOT net...

Trailer Re-Siding

Before I can get the pipes, bulk chicken wire, and then additional compost/soil for the garden enclosure, I have to have the trailer renovated.  I started on that back in last Summer with pressure-treated plywood to cover the sides and base, but the plywood layers separated and warped on the sides, was too high, and too thin for good stability.  All around, a seemingly good choice of material that didn't work. 

Well, "almost" didn't work.  It did fine screwed down onto the boards that make up the bottom of the trailer.  I covered those with plywood because the original individual boards have gaps between them that let sand/dirt/compost fall through unless I covered them with a plastic tarp.  And when you shovel the contents out, you tear up the tarp.  At $10 per tarp, I got tired of that fast (and repairing tears with duct tape isn't free either).

So last week, I decided to go back to what DID work; T1-11 Exterior Plywood Siding.  The previous sides lasted 15 years before starting to rot, and the stuff is very stable and strong.  I should have just stayed with that last Summer.  I guess I figured pressure treated plywood would last even longer.

So last week, I started planning for T1-11 plywood.  I went to Home Depot and they didn't have any of the T1-11 in the thickness I wanted (it comes in basically 3/8" and 5/8" thick) and I wanted the thicker for strength.  Three days later, they also did not have it.  Today I went and I was annoyed enough to find a helpful employee to ask.  He said, that if the plywood wasn't on the shelves, they probably didn't have it in stock. 

I suggested that maybe there was some "in the back" or newly delivered.  But as I said that, I looked WAY UP at the top of the stacks, a good 20 feet up an saw a carboard-covered box that suggested it was the stuff I wanted.  19/32nds thick (seriously, who would make anything 19/32nds?  It must actually be metric).  Then a look from the side showed the other dimensions I wanted.

I won't say the senior lumber guy wasn't exactly upset to have to get that stuff down from the top, but he didn't thank me for the opportunity either.  Well, he got to use a BIG DAMN FORKLIFT and most guys would enjoy that.  Other employees gathered around to watch (they don't get to use that cool stuff).   I don't want to spoil any "guyness" here, but I'm not impressed.  He had only 3 controls:  A steering wheel, the fork up and down, and a slight forward adjustment to the fork.  My mouse is that complicated.  And he screwed it up the first 2 tries!  And he was the senior person...

OK, eventually, he got the pallet of the plywood I wanted down to the sales-level bin.  I told him I wanted 2 sheets and I wanted them cut.  I should explain the cutting.

I wanted the sides of the trailer 18" high.  But that's tricky with T1-11 because it has a tongue and groove edges  (like half-laps depending on your familiarity with terms). 

I had the lumber guy use the coolest saw I ever saw...  Its a circular saw on a pipe grid that works both vertically AND horizontally, with rollers at the bottom so the large plywood panels slide smoothly. 

I ended up with four 8'x18" pieces  and 2 scraps I will find a use for later.  I was initially worried about securing the pieces on the trailer, but then I realized the could fit corner to opposite corner.

Back home, I set the 2 long sides of the 8' plywood strips along the 8" side of the metal frame and drilled holes through the wood to attach them with 1/4" bolt and fender washers on the inside, and lock washers and wing nuts (for easy re-tightening) on the outside.  That took care of the sides.

The front and removable back will take some more exact cuts.  It will be important that the front and back make good contact with the sides so I can't lose material at the corners.  Fotunately, when I put the old back in place, it fit perfectly, so I know what size to cut the new T1-11.  The front part will require so detailed fitting.  Well, the last part always needs details work.

And the forecast is for 2 days of heavy rain, so I brought all the side pieces into the garage.  I'm guessing Tuesday is when I can bring the pieces out to the trailer for correct fitting.

Then I can use the trailer to get the pipes and chicken wire for the enclosed garden.  I always say
something else has to be done first" on any project, and this is proof.  LOL!

Garden Enclosure 2

I love gardening.  I love geometry.  The two intersect when laying out framed beds in restricted space.  Having decided that a 20'x20' enclosed space ought to be a reasonable size to built, I have been sketching out various sizes and arrangements of framed beds to but in that area.

The results have been both maddening and enjoyable.  Maddening because there are possibly endless arrangements, and enjoyable because I love the challenge.  In the process, I have developed some rules:

Primary Considerations:

1.  20'x20' total enclosed size
2.  Paths between beds cannot be narrower than 2' (wheelbarrow access)
3.  No part of a bed can be more than 2' from an edge (for easy digging and reaching access)
        A.  That means no bed can be wider than 4'
        B.  A 4' bed needs a path on both sides
4.  Maximize growing square footage
5.  Minimize pathway square footage
6.  There has to be a support pole dead center in the 20'x20' enclosure and it can't be in a path (the 10' pipes need a center support)
7.  Growing area in beds must be true square feet*

Secondary Considerations:

1.  I won't walk on the framed bed soil, so beds must allow easy movement among them (no labyrinthine paths)
2.  Boards cost money, so the fewer needed, the better.
3.  Beds against the enclosure chicken wire allow some access to varmints

Observations:

1.  Material costs count only once.  Square feet of growing area is forever. 


* Meaning the inside dimensions of the beds are whole feet, not the outside dimensions.  That threw me for days when I calculated the square feet of the beds and the square feet of the paths and it wouldn't add up to 400 square feet (20'x20').  Boards have thickness, and it adds up!  Nominal 2" boards are actually 1.5" thick, so 8 boards across 4 beds takes exactly 1 foot off the available space!

Anyone who wants to suggest some layouts is more than welcome to send some.  My email address is right under the header.

Enclosed Garden

After several years of increased varmint invasion, I have decided decided to take the bull by the horns (or more properly the squirrel by the tail) and exclude the little beastards entirely.  I'm going to totally enclose my garden in 1" chicken wire.

My original (and technically "current") garden has a 32'x2' framed trellis, plus four 8'x3' beds and two 4'x4' beds.  But over the years tree shading and invasive vine growth has reduced that to 12 feet of trellis, two 8x3s and two 4x4s.  And they are over 20 years old, so the wood frames are rotting badly.  With the need to rebuild the beds anyway, the varmint problems invited a serious solution.

First, let me assure you that I realize home gardening does not save money on food.  It is a hobby (of great personal satisfaction) and no hobby saves money.  Hobbyist fishermen don't get fish cheaper than can be gotten at the grocery stores, and the same is true for hunting.  So if my plan seems to cost more money than its worth, don't be surprised.

Second, last year the squirrels (and possibly a groundhog and a rabbit or two) ate or pulled up almost all of my seedlings early and ate most of my ripening tomatoes and melons later.  That was the last straw; I could either give up of double-down.  I'm doubling down!

I started looking for structure ideas last Fall and found one site where a person had constructed an enclosed structure about 8'x10' using EMT pipes (thin metal pipe used to hold electrical wire underground) and chicken wire suspended over picture frame wire.  I sketched out a few designs on that idea and realized it needed to be stronger for the 20'x20' size I wanted.

One thing I discovered was that PVC pipe fitting fit over EMT pipe quite tightly.  So I figured out the kinds of connections I needed to build a 20'x20' grid of 1"x10' EMT pipes.  There aren't metal connectors in complicated shapes like there are for PVC pipes, so that was great.

I ordered the PVC connections last week and they arrived a few days ago.  But I wasn't committed to the structure until I started to take apart the existing framed beds.  I started on that today.  My 2'x32' trellis bed had 6" concrete remesh wire as the vertical support.  That's the heavy wire grid they put into concrete driveways for strength.  I use it for super-strong tomato cages and trellis material. 

The act of commitment was to cut the trellis remesh wire off the posts supporting it.  I have a tool called a "Sawz-All" that is basically an electric kitchen knife on steroids.  It can cut wood or metal.

I unrolled 125' of heavy-duty extension cord out to the garden, plugged in the Sawzall and started cutting the concrete remesh from the trellis posts.  It went easier than I thought.  But there is ALWAYS some suprise to any part of a project.  Well, the first half of the remesh grid came off fine and I propped it against the fence (it will be used later). 

The second half was not so easy.  Years of evil vines (some 3/4" thick) had the wire remesh locked down.  It took a good 30 minutes to cut the vines loose.  No matter how many I cut there were more from unexpected directions, so it took multiple tries to get it all loose.  I finally got that half propped against the fence, but there is probably another hour of pruning to get all those interwoven vines cut out of the remesh.

So part is done.  A small part.  But a start is good and I have to continue now or there won't be any trellis to grow cucumbers, pole beans, etc on this year.  The first part of destruction requires the remainder.

The next step is to pull up all the scrap carpet I've used to suppress weeds in the paths between the framed beds.  I already know that there are many weeds growing through it, so pulling it up won't be easy.  Then I have to take apart the framed beds themselves.  That old lumber is all trash, but it will leave the good garden soil without support. 

With Spring coming late, I don't have as much time as I expected to have to complete this project.  Of course!  Any normal year, I could have started this project in early March.  THIS YEAR, we have more snow forecast for Wdnesday! 

Basically, I have to set nine 10' EMT pipes in the ground 2' deep in a 3x3 grid and then connect them all at the top.  I can dig individual holes but my test dig in the rocky clay soil was not promising to be easy.  I could rent a power auger to drill holes.  Or I can rent a power trencher to make a trench along the entire outside of the structure and then backfill the soil around the EMT pipes.

I may go with the trencher because I have some other uses for one.  There are tree roots coming from neighbors' trees and I need to get them out because they are are making the ground unlevel and the new framed beds need to be on flat soil.  But maybe I can cut them with an ax and pry them out with a steel bar easier.  I'll have to give the latter a try first.

The last part of the project is to use the interior structure space as efficiently as possible.  I have done some sketches and realized that my original layout of framed beds was very inefficient.  Well, that didn't matter when I had the whole backyard.  Now it matters.  The most efficient 20'x20' section of the existing beds had 126 square feet of garden.  The best 20'x20' section I have layed out so far has 224 sq ft with 2' wide paths.

A new post when I do more...

I'll be taking lots of pictures as I go on this.  I can tell from doing internet searches that a lot of people want to do this but don't know how and will find my project.  I don't have anything to show yet, but should soon. 

Gardening 2

Well, it was my favorite weekend of the years last weekend.  Its the day I start seeds of some of my favorite crops.  8 weeks before average last frost day...

It was TOMATO DAY!  And bell pepper, broccoli, cabbage, radicchio, celery, and "some other stuff" day.

I love fresh heirloom tomatoes above all individual foods.  Right from vine to mouth, sides on the dinnerplate, in salads, as snacks.

But the last few years, my heirloom tomatoes have not produced well (even for heirloom tomatoes) in spite of good care.  So when I read about grafting heirloom tomato stalks on disease-resistant hybrid roots, I got interested.  Well, almost all grapes grown for wine are grafted on disease-resistant roots, s why not tomatoes?

I planted 2x my normal number of heirlooms (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, Aunt Gertie's Gold, and Striped German) and as many of the hybrid Big Beef to use as hybrid roots (plus 4 to grow for themselves as backups).

The idea is that you cut the tops off the heirlooms and the hybrids and attach the heirloom tops to the hybrid roots.  I bought small silicon clips to hold the 2 together.  It may be tricky to do (I have shakey hands from teenage DDT exposure), but I will give it my best try.  And I've planted enough of the heirlooms so that, if the grafts fail, I will have enough regular heirloom plants for the garden.

I will take LOTS of pictures so that I can look back on the points of success or failure.

There is good news on the previous weekend flower plantings.  There are SEEDLINGS showing!  That is encouraging, because the seed packets said "germination in 7-21 days" and I'm seeing some at 7 days.

I bought a mini greenhouse today.  And I mean "mini-mini".  Its a steel frame with metal mesh shelves and a vinyl cover with zippers that allow you to adjust how closed/open the cover is.  Its for hardening off plants outside before permanent planting, a transition I have always had difficulties with.  It's kind of simplistic, but at $30, worth a try.  I found it at Lowes.

The other gandenng project I keep working on is an enclosed garden surrounded by chicken wire to keep the squirrels from tearing up the seedlings and eating the ripe veggies. I made a fast and crude attempt last year and it "sort of worked".  But not well enough and it was a real effort to harvest anything through the barriers.

I looked up "enclosed gardens", and found a decent design.  But it was small and had flaws.  I've been thinking of improvements.  Thinking of improvements even in my dreams at night...

I think I have something easier to construct, easier to build larger, and sturdier.  I won't give out all the details right now (they are changing daily), but basically, its a 20'x20' grid of 1/2" metal pipe built of 10' pipes and connectors, covered all around with chicken wire and chicken wire extended out from the bottom at ground level about 3' to discourage animals from tunneling under.

I'll show pictures when I settle on the design.

I will have a busy early Spring to deconstruct my existing framed beds in early April (falling apart after 25 years) before the planting season starts in late April.  But it is either then or not and I want to have a garden free of the evil squirrels.

First Seeds Of The New Gardening Season

I am glad to say the new gardening season is underway.  Well, I suppose you could say it started when I ordered new seeds, but it doesn't really count until a seed meets dirt!  I started on Sunday.

Does it seem a bit early?  Yes.  But many annual flowers can be planted indoors 10-12 weeks before the average last frost because they are slow to germinate (7-21 days) and grow slowly at first.  And in fact, Sunday was 9 weeks before average last frost, so I am late.  So I planted impatiens, salvia, dusty miller, butterfly weed, forget-me-not, and wave petunia.  I also planted a dozen leeks, so the veggies are started too.

I love the lighting stand I made from a storage shelf.  It originally had five 2'x4' thin plastic-coated wood shelves on a steel frame.  I added 1/2" plywood under the top 4 shelves and attached 4' fluorescent fixtures under each plywood shelf (4 tubes per shelf).  I can fit four 11"x22" planting trays on each shelf if I want, but I start the trays 2 to a shelf lengthwise to get the maximum light at the start.

It felt SO GOOD to get into the potting soil and fill the cell-packs, read the planting requirements for each seed, and PLANT THEM!  The earliest seeds to plant are usually the trickiest.  Those are the ones that are tiny, need light to germinate, and are fussy about moisture.  

Things will  be more traditional this next weekend.  -8 weeks before last average frost is the time to start the major veggies.  Tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, lettuces, will get planted.  The tomatoes are always my favorites.

I'm trying something new with the tomatoes this year.  In past years, I've grown mostly heirlooms (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, Aunt Gertie's Gold, and Tennessee Britches) with a couple hybrids like Big Beef for backup if the heirlooms do poorly.  Over the Winter, I read about tomato-grafting.  It's just like grafting grapevines; you put a good fruiting top on a healthier rootstock.

With the tomatoes, you put an heirloom top on a hybrid root. 


The plants are more productive because the hybrid rootstock is larger, and the plants avoid many soilborne diseases because the hybrid rootstocks are resistant to them.  I've seen comparison pictures of heirlooms alone grown along side of grafted heirlooms and the apparent production differences are impressive.  And I mean pictures from agricultural sites, not scammy commercial advertisements.

You can buy the grafted plants from catalogs at high prices, but I am going to try doing the grafting myself.  I bought some small soft clips designed for attaching the heirloom tops to the hybrid roots.  I just hope I'm adept enough for the effort.  I don't have the steadiest of hands (DDT exposure in my youth), so my efforts may not work out.

That's why I will have 2 full sets of tomato seedlings!  One set will be let to develop naturally, as if there was no grafting intended.  The other set will be for the grafting experiment.  I usually plant 2-3 of each type of tomato outside but start 6 seedlings inside of each type anyway, so I don't even have to plant more than usual.

If this works I may be the happiest gardener in the county (just guessing I'm the only person trying to graft tomato seedlings in the county the first time this year). 

An Unusually Productive Day

I have to admit, most days are spent preparing lunch and eating it while reading the newspaper, doing general daily things (blogging and helping the cats visit their friends' blogs, cleaning litter boxes, letting the cats in and out, playing with them, watching science/nature/politic news...  I do a few errands once per week (groceries, hardware, and odds&ends).  At this time of year, there is nothing to be done in the garden.  I often sleep late ( a pleasure earned by retirement - I got up at 5 AM and returned home at 6 PM for 35 years, so I plan to sleep late for 35 years to catch up) .

So today was a good day.  I was up an hour early, ate lunch faster than usual and took a look at the basement.  Oh boy, there's a year's worth of work.  But I got a good start on it...

First, I collected all the plastic 6-packs I grow plants from seeds in, filled up the laundry tub, added some bleach, and set them all in to soak old dirt loose for 4 hours.  All the damaged ones went into a bag for disposal or recycling. 

Second, took the two 35 pound tubs of new kitty litter and divided them among 7 smaller 12 pound plastic containers from a previous brand (easier to pour from). 

Third, my car battery dies randomly every few months (dealer says the battery is good and I must be leaving a door slightly unlatched to keep the internal lights on.  *I* say I have learned to watch the car EVERY TIME until the internal lights go out AND I check every door every time) - but I can't PROVE that).  So I keep a marine battery in the back of the car.  I used it yesterday, so I recharged it.

Fourth, had some caladium bulbs in planters and they needed to be removed from soil and dried out in cool (but above 50 degree temps).  I have more of them in lager planters I brought into the basement, but they need to dry out more.  Washed soil off the saved ones and set them to dry.

Fifth, shook the soil out of the soaked plastic planting cells in the laundry tub, rinsed them carefully,  and stacked them up in rotation to dry over a heavy towel on the top of the washing machine.  Next laundry day is 10 days, so they will be thoroughly dried to be stack together tightly for storage until January (when the whole planting season starts again - cant wait).

Sixth, collected all used dry potting soil into a big trash barrel for use with established houseplants and transplanted vegetables.

Studied the whole-house humidifier again.  It seems too dry in the bedroom at night.  I don't get static shocks like I once did (there was a time when I could get the fluorescent lamp on my headboard to glow when I touched it and stroking cat fur caused sparks).  But I'm on my 2nd humidifier.  The first was a sponge drum that rotated through a water tray and worked great.  But it (grungily) fell apart after 3 years.  But it worked great, (45% humidity)  The current one drips water down a honeycomb  panel and isn't worth a bowl of water on a heating vent for 3 years.  The highest relative humidity I can get with this one is 25%.  I need to get a drum-type again.  But the opening to the airflow it wants is leess than the current one, so I need to srew some sheet metal over the existing opening and then cut it to size.    It would be nice if there were standard sizes for those things.

Seventh, pumped up bicycle tires, wheelbarrow tires, mower tires, and handtruck tires.  I have an air compressor, but the darn thing is too big to move around conventiently.  I only use that on the car tires and I've never used it as intended. with impact wrenches and spay painting.  Sad.

Eighth, swept most of the basement floor.  I hate the noise of the shop-vac.  Plus it tends to sucky-stick flat on the cement floor.  I tried to epoxy some 1/8" wood spacers under the wide nozzle corners once but it didn't work.  Must try a new way. 

Ninth, took off the sprayer on the watering tripod I made a few years ago.  The round spray doesn't allow as mush water as a different kind I have  (more horizontal) that works better for my flowerbeds.  Measured the size hold-down clamps I needed.    Have a good list of stuff I need from Home Depot.

I decided that was enough for one day...

Good Gardening Days

Some days, you just cant seem to get any useful work done.  You vacuum and it just looks the same a day later.  There are always dishes and pots to clean.

But outside, the effort of work seems to last longer.  I spent some time watering the gardens the past several days.  I have a tripod I built (my own design) that lets me just set the hose spray on and let it run for 10 minutes at a spot.  Its easy to move to a new spot to water.

It takes 5 movements of the sprayer to do the flowerbeds, 3 to do the veggie gardens, and 3 to do the hosta bed.  Plus random local watering for the odd places too small to water largely.  Which usually means 120 minutes or 2 hours.

But September has actually had virtually no rain, so I gave each spot 20 minutes of watering instead of just 10 and spent the time waiting by weeding the watered flowerbeds.  I pulled out 3 wheelbarrow-loads of weeds.  Fortunately, them being deeply soaked, they came out with the roots.  There is something very satisfying about seein a weed pulled up with the roots still on!  Even if they survive, they are annual weeds and won't have time to grow again to produce seeds.  So THEY are GONE GONE GONE!

It was a very good 2 days.

Evil Squirrels

I caught the 4th of maybe 5 squirrels who had learned to steal from the garden.  If there is a 5th, I'll get it in a week.  My tomatoes are just ripening.  I hope there is only 4.  I don't ENJOY this.

One Time too Many

Hairy Houdini Squirrel went for the lushious peanut butter bait one too many times this morning.

And this time I did not handle the cage wrong, nor did I place him into the waters in trashcan of water in a way that allowed an escape.

I searched the house yesterdy and found a large plastic container larger than the live cage.  I filled it with water last night.  Hairy Houdini Squirrel went in horizontally that didn't release the doors and he didn't make an escape.

It was quick.  5 seconds of confusion, one blurp, and gone.

I have set the cage-trap up again, because my heirloom tomatoes are ripening, but I am VERY much hoping Hairy Houdini was the last of the squirrels who had learned to raid the garden.

I am designing a total 1" chicken wire garden enclosure for next year that will keep all natural animals around the yard out.   I do not wish to kill anything again.

But I HAVE learned how to set a live cage on the top on a fence that doesn't fail.  I will post tomorrow about that for people that want to know for their own reasons.  You don't have to read it.

Houdini Squirrel

There seem to be 3 squirrels in the Grove Tree Gang who attack my garden.  The small grove of trees on the east side dont have food trees like oaks, so they have learned to raid gardens and fruit trees.

In desperation this year, I set up a live trap.  I caught 2 of them in 3 days.  But the 3rd one must be the mastermind.  I keep finding the trap shut yet the peanut butter all cleaned off the trigger lever.  Its been 13 days of resetting the cage and applying new peanut butter sometimes even twice per day.

Today I walked out to the cage and heard a rattling sound.  I GOT it!  I was excited.  I loosened the rope tied to the cage handle that keeps it from falling over the fence into the neighbor's yard and went to carry it away.

Oops, I forgot the wire that holds the cage to the fence.  It made me lose my grip on the cage and fall 2 feet to the end of the rope.  That caused the wire that holds the doors closed to flip loose and Squirrel Houdini was out in a flash.

I said a LOT of Very Bad Words...

So I did what I have done every day the past 2 weeks and reset the trap.  I'm sure Squirrel Houdini is going to be leery of the cage.  But I also know it LOVES the peanut butter.  So it is a game of squirrel gluttony vs patience.

I'll  get it eventually.  And when the last of the Grove Tree Gang is removed, I hope the replacements don't learn the same garden-raiding tricks.

I don't have anything in particular against squirrels.  We coexisted peacefully for 23 years before this one group started destroying my garden (and I put 2 squirrel baffles on the birdfeeder pole years ago).  I even like them in their natural habitat (living in trees and eating acorns - of which there are plenty here).  But last year they pulled every green aple of my trees and ate all but 2 tomatoes. This year they have pulled up 3 plantings of corn, beans and cucumbers.

Here it is the middle of July and I have eaten just 2 beans (and just tonight).  The cukes are only a foot high.  The last corn seedlings died under the cover I put over them (too hot, I guess) and there is probably no point in replanting them at this point.  There is a new planting of beans under a tent of 1" mesh chicken wire. I MIGHT get some beans from this planting

I don't have a problem with the squirrels on the west side of the yard.  There are 2 huge oak trees there so they seem to have all the acorns they need, and apparently, the birdfeeder is in their territory.  They eat the seeds the birds spill out and they are welcome to them.  No squirrel of the west side has ever run toward the east grove.  I never bother animals that don't attack my food.

My only fight is with the east Grove Tree Gang.  Sheriff Cavebear IS going to get them...

More Critter Trouble

All is NOT quiet on the Garden Front!

OK, It seems I pretty much have the Grove Gang Squirrels at a stalemate.  But to review:  They started by pulling up most my corn, bean, and cucumber seedlings (but not eating them) 2 plantings.  I attached the live cage on the top of my fence (their highway to my garden).  I caught one in the live cage and dispatched it.  A second one pulled up my 3rd planting, so I covered the trellis bed with a tent of 1" chicken wire and covered my block of corn separately.  Some squirrels penetrated the mesh tent and also got at the corn again (I had uncovered it for some afternoon sun and forgot to replace it).  I then caught a 2nd squirrel and dispatched it.

In addition, I had had 2 groundhogs move in under my toolshed earlier.  The first was live trapped and relocated.  The 2nd was driven away after I filled 3 different burrow entrances with used cat litter.  I thought I was done with them for the year (in the past, they have only showed up in the Spring).

So there I was trying to catch the 3rd garden attacking squirrel, but also having fixed the spots it/they got into through the mesh tent.  I thought I only needed to catch the 3rd squirrel and then protect my developing tomatoes in another garden bed.

After catching the first 2 squirrels in just a few days, I expected to get the known 3rd and possible 4th easily.  The peanut butter bait smeared on the trip lever was working well.  However, I have since found the trap tripped daily with nothing inside.

I have figured out that its mostly my fault.  There are 2 wires that need to be set in place after the doors are set open that lock the doors shut when snapped closed.  That may be confusing; what it means is that a frantic squirrel CAN push back out through the spring-shut doors if 2 wires down lock them down.  I HAVE found a couple of times where I forgot to set the lock wires.  I know a squirrel has been in the cage because the peanut butter is licked clean.

But I may have outsmarted myself on a few other attempts.  Trying to be clever, I put a small dot of peanut butter at the front of the cage to lure the squirrel in.  I realized that when the cage was closed and no squirrel was inside, the dot of peanut butter was missing.  What probably happened was that the squirrel grabbed the front of the cage to get at the dot on peanut butter hard enough to trigger the doors.

It must have gotten a wicked strike on the head, but was able to pull itself  out.  But it keeps coming after that peanut butter!

There is also a situation after I stopped putting the dot of peanut butter on the front of the cage and the cage is closed with the trigger lever still having the big smear of peanut butter on it.  I suspect that a squirrel is jumping onto the cage just to get over it, and triggering the doors to spring closed.  I may have to attach a circle of chicken wire around the outside of the cage to encourage them to go through it. 

But I have learned to make sure the door-locking wires are in place each time lately and that the only peanut butter is sure to get them at the door trigger lever.  In fact today, I smeared the peanut butter on a small stone and set it PAST the trigger lever.  If THAT doesn't work, I will try the mesh wire surround to encourage them to go through the cage instead of jumping on it.  I expect to be successful soon.

So what's the "MORE" problem?  Well, as I was quietly walking to check the squirrel cage this evening, I surprised a HUGE FAT GROUNDHOG in the back yard.  As expected, it ran to the toolshed.  I looked around the shed at the previous burrows.  None of the previous burrow entrances had been re-dug.

I wasn't surprised at THAT.  I use scoopable cat litter and the stuff is slimy when wet and cement-like when dry.  Plus it is full of cat pee and poop!  I doubt any herbivore is going to mess around with THAT!  But I looked around carefully (it's a bit overgrown with weeds and vines) and found the new burrow.  They all seem to like the same spot (NW corner for some reason.  It was dug this morning (I check around the toolshed every day at least once).  So I went back into the garage and took out 2 plastic shopping bags of used cat litter and emptied them into the burrow entrance.  I'll be able to tell if it digs its way back out (doubtful - not one has done THAT yet) or digs a new hole elsewhere.  If neither of those happens, it either suffocated or had a panic heart attack, LOL!

One last odd observation.  As I was walking back to the house, I noticed a 3' arc of eaten clover where I saw the groundhog.  I know they like clover.  If I thought that was all they would ever eat, I would leave them be.  But I have, in the past, caught them eating my ripening heirloom tomatoes.  And I love those at least as much as Hobbits love mushrooms!

So the new groundhog has to go too.  I HOPE it leaves from the offense of the used cat litter.  But if not, I will live-cage and dispatch it too. 

Squirrel Games Again

Well, the bad news is that I uncovered the block of 9 corn seedlings in the afternoon yesterday (an opaque plastic bin) so that they could get some sunlight (the squirrels seem to stay away in the afternoon), and I forgot to put the cover back on them last night.  7 of the 9 seedlings were pulled up and most uneaten this morning.  I meant to form a cover for them out of leftover chicken wire, but I got distracted by housework and putting the recycle bins out by the street, etc.

So I put the cover back over the surviving 2 plants and set 7 more seeds soaking overnight to replant tomorrow.  I will use the bin I am covering the block with and use it as a form for a chicken wire cover BEFORE I replant them  the 4th time.  I should have done that the 1st time.  But one time is happenstance, and the 2nd time can be coincidence.  3rd time is "enemy action" and I am at 4th.

Other bad news is that the squirrels are not going for the dried corn cob chunk in the live trap near the birdfeeder (I placed it there so I could easily see if, and how fast, it worked).  It didn't get any attention.

So I decided to follow the advice of one website and use peanut butter smeared on the trap release lever.  I put the trap on top of the fence the squirrels use as their highway from the tree grove to my garden.  I attached a wire from the trap to the fence so that if one was caught it wouldn't fall into the neighbor's yard.  Then I put some peanut butter on the release lever and tiny amounts in front of the trap and just inside of it.

The good news is that a squirrel followed the peanut butter, but tripped the trap while outside of it.  But there are 2 wire bars that keep the doors from being pushed open from inside and I might not have secured those.  And when I approached the trap, there was a squirrel right there, and it WANTED that peanut butter.  So that bait might work if I set everything up correctly.  I reset the trap before coming inside for the night.  I hope to see a squirrel in there tomorrow morning.

I have high hopes for the peanut butter.  And I really hope it works, because my tomatoes are starting to produce fruit and I don't want them stolen.

Enclosing each raised bed in chicken wire would be ridiculous, might prevent pollination, and be hard to access each time I needed to weed or harvest.

The alternative is to redesign my raised beds into one single large bed and enclose the entire thing with chicken wire, sides, and top (with a door of course).  That would be a lot of work, it would be a bit ugly, and expensive.  1"  mesh chicken wire isn't as expensive as some other garden fencings, but it isn't free.

So those individual talented garden-thieving squirrels just MUST go...