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closing in the gaps

Slowly but surely we are finishing the fence. Today we worked on keeping the rabbits out on the east side. We only worked for a couple of hours really, but Dwight and Dad were able to finish one side–because Dwight didn’t have to work today because of rain. It was a perfect day, however, for fence building! Meanwhile, I trimmed.

installing the first panel

waterfront property featuring two in-ground swimming pools

in the foreground: evidence of yesterday’s escapade

the rabbits are watching and plotting, no doubt

 

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paradise lost?

So far I have been only posting positive thoughts and pics of the garden. Now it is time for a little good, bad, and ugly–in that order.

finishing the fence

decapitated beans (birds?)

under the row cover . . .

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day off

Today I didn’t do anything garden-related–except take some pictures.  First of all, the beans are blooming! Dwight ripped the 1×1 20-foot boards for finishing off the top of the fence. Also, can see from the standing water that we need to raise the height of the southwest bed.

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fence-raising

We had a little Friday night fence-raising. In addition to Mom, Dad, Dwight, Bill, and myself, we were joined by The Hammer (aka Lisa). By the end of the evening, we had all of the wire installed.

nice!

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ready for wire

Today we put the bottom rail around the remaining fence. Now we are ready for the wire. Then the metal around the bottom. Then the wire at the top (to dissuade deer). Plus, Bill and I made two trips to the landscape waste facility for wood chips. Oh, we mowed and trimmed both Piper Street properties, as well.

looking south

hardware cloth

northeast corner

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trying to beat the rain

Okay, the ground was not dried out from the previous rain, but if I didn’t plant the last of the tomatoes today, they would probably have dried up in their tiny, little containers (is that redundant? –rhetorical question. yes.) So I planted nine San Marzanos and three Mexican Midgets, plus the last three of the broccoli. I also weeded the onions and rigged up a deer/rabbit barricade for the newly planted tomatoes. I arrived at the garden about 9 A.M. and left about 1:30 P.M.

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the glamour of farming

Not just anyone can be a farmer. Nope. We found two more tubs, for a total of five, to haul wood chips. It took about an hour to go to the city landscape waste, load five buckets up, drive back to Piper, position newspapers, and spread the chips. Although it’s only about 80 degrees, the humidity seems to be right about 100%. We were going to make another trip (we meaning my farm hand who works only for food), but it was starting not to be fun. The landscape waste facility is only open Thurs through Sunday, so we will have to wait four more days to continue the grand scheme.

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thank you, city of macomb

Residents of Macomb can pick up free wood chips at the city’s landscape waste location. So we loaded up the laundry tubs and headed out just ahead of a storm. Came back home to have some dinner. Just as I was getting ready to sear the ribeyes, the electricity went out. Lit the gas burners with a match and heated up some mashed potatoes the old-fashioned way: on the stove. After a nice candlelight dinner, decided to head to the garden since there was nothing to do at the house. Three laundry tubs covered almost 20′ of garden walkway.