New veg bed crescent

You recall my last effort in the gardens last Fall was to stake out a new crescent bed for vegetables inside the north end of the ring bed.

On April 22, Craig came and broke ground.  It was really a little too wet to till, especially since there was sod to break up at this point.

We let the bed dry out for a week, then he came back April 28 and had a go at it again.

I realized at that time that my initial width would be too narrow to suit me, so he tilled it another 10" wider.  Now it's about 38-40" - a good width and I'm happy.

The soil isn't drying very fast because it's sod and has a lot of clay.

This week should be nice and dry.  We'll let it air out some more and then he'll come back and do it again.

No matter how many times he'll till it before we call it quits, it will take YEARS for this soil to gain the nice dark topsoil quality the ring bed itself now enjoys.












It would take a lot of grass clippings and shredded leaves to beef up this bed.  So it frustrates me no end that with my bad back, etc I can no longer safely manhandle heavy bags of clippings or (this Fall) gather, shred & haul leaves.

We'll just have to see how things shake out.

Meanwhile, my next step will be to fence in these this new bed and the veg arc on the ring to keep deer out.  How unsightly that will be.  Maybe a nice machine gun bunker back by the compost bins....
========
Meanwhile, another chore got done this past weekend.  Just before Sunday's rain, I got all 4 barrels set up at the garage downspout so I can start using rainwater on the plants right off the bat this season.

Wouldn't it be swell if I didn't have to use the hose hardly at all this year?


Click here to return to Melissa Majora main page.

Under pressure

Wednesday I was under a lot of stress.  I wanted to throw things; break things, rage and cry after another uninformative and frustrating visit with yet another doctor!

But, as I've learned in the past, if I do all that kicking and/or throwing, there is always a mess to clean up and shopping for some replacement items.  *sigh*

So, to help relieve the tension, I dragged out the Karcher pressure washed and spent some time washing the dirt and algae off the deck.

I used up a lot of energy, and, instead of having to clean up carnage, I ended up with a nice clean deck.

Looks like the wood has lost a lot of the wood preservative.  Is it because what I used is more suited to fences and siding and doesn't hold up well to foot traffic?  Or is because power washing (instead of sudsy brushing then rinsing) removes the preservative?

Either way, the deck will need a coat this season.  Maybe next year I'll try one of those 'green cleaners' with a brush/rinse routine instead.  No way am I going to re-coat every two year.

Next day was even warmer and very windy (as the front approached).  Though much less stressed, I opted to clean the front stoop and walks.

That took some time and now the walks are much less slippery when wet (wet algae can be a nasty slip-n-slide).

Now - here's an update on the Karcher.  I've only had it since last March.  I used it back then and now this April.  While pulling the thing on the wheels toward the front walk.  I stopped, let go, walked away, and the wind nudged it over.

BOTH ATTACHMENTS BROKE RIGHT OFF.  The tabs that held the handle broke and the tabs that held on the tool caddy did too.  And there is no way to re-attach EITHER of them.   It's not like I dropped the thing or manhandled it.  AND, when I filled the soap reservoir with some vinegar water, after spraying the walks, NOT ONE DROP of the vinegar had been syphoned out with the spray.  I now downgrade the Karcher to KRAPcher.  BEWARE.

Well, after that I visited with a nice garage door guy whom I invited over to show me what it would cost to replace my original (now 63 year old) wooden beast of a door.

We were both concerned that not only is the door original, but those massive tension springs are too.  And when they break, all hell can happen.  Maybe it's time to upgrade, get a steel door and run with the new coiled springs instead. 

I'll keep ya posted on that.

(By the way, he was really impressed that I had repaired the door opener myself!  He checked it out and said it was a pro job. *blush*)

As the guy was leaving, I asked a favor.  Since I can't do heavy lifting anymore....?

Next thing ya know I've now got a huge bag of potting mix  in the basement so I can sow more seedling under the lights.  How nice of him was that? :-D

As for the garage door: Any faves out there when it comes to garage door openers?  Garage door types?  Things I should look for or avoid?  C'mon - share! :-D

Click here to return to Melissa Majora main page.

Basket case

I stopped by the dollor store last week looking for some cheapy spray bottles to use on the basement plant starts.  While there, I found these 2 kinds of baskets:  one a small (bushel) sized laundry basket and a smaller wire (waste paper) basket.

Joy!  Both had open bottoms.  Perfect!  At a buck apiece, I cleaned out their entire inventory (34 baskets in total).

Now if you thought I was dealing with an extraordinary amount of laundry or waste paper - think again.

Remember those d^mn deer?  Well, they are still gnawing down everything in my garden, especially my poor struggling yews back by the golf course.

So first thing I did when I got home was cover those sorry plants.

I'd not used baskets like this before because all I could ever find were the type that had solid bottoms.  Last thing I wanted to do was restrict light and water to these abused babies.

I positioned the blue ones on the plants visible to the house.  I used the white ones behind the shed and compost bins so they weren't quite as jarring to the eye.

Honestly, if the baskets had been bright pink I'd still have used them.  ANYthing to help thrwart those *&#(!  deer.

As for the wire baskets?  I'll be using them as cloches in the veg bed this spring.  I'm thinking they'll save cuke, kale and other little plants while they get established. 

Yep - sure was a lucky find for me.  Too bad if someone else needed a cheap waste or laundry basket, though.  :-D

Click here to return to Melissa Majora main page.