Garden Activity

The last couple of days have been very busy in the garden. Although the weather has been rainy, given we had over an inch and a half of rain the last few days, it has not deterred me from getting some stuff completed. One of the more pressing items was the pea trellis. Yesterday, I devised the structure from items I had from other years. So I took a very strong glass protector system I acquired many years ago and hung it across two wood poles I had up from last year. It can be seen in the picture below along with how I attached it to the poles.

Once I had that taken care of, I proceeded to attach chicken wire to the bottom part to allow the transplants to begin climbing the trellis. I will add more wire to it once I get my transplants in the ground. I delayed doing the transplanting today (Wednesday) as we are supposed to have low temps at or near freezing or slightly higher tonight. Figured one more day of delay isn't hurting anything given the seedlings are quite healthy in the greenhouse. Here is a picture of the trellis with the chicken wire attached. 

Once I finished that, I decided to drive in more of my bamboo poles to support a chicken wire fence. After yesterdays 3 poles were installed, I now have 7 total poles in place. These are not easy to work with but given the cost of the metal fence posts at around $4-$6 a piece, it is a savings of about $240 dollars. And, I am beginning to like the look of them too. The only input I have is the labor as these were free. As they age, they will take on the traditional look of aged bamboo. They are just now starting to turn yellow as they are very freshly cut. I like that they are sturdy and I am hopeful they will serve the purpose for a long time. Here is a shot of them presently.

One other project that I really hadn't considered was what to do with the pathways between the beds. I had many bags of maple tree wood chips that I overwintered in black bags. My main idea for them was to use them in my composters. I cut one bag open and was shocked to see how nicely they had dried out and their consistency. I immediately thought they would be great in the paths since I would be walking on them which will deter pests and such. I put a bag down the one path and here is what it looked like.

I was hooked at this point. I proceeded to open all of the bags of chips and spread them over all the paths. Amazingly, I had zero left over after this process. Couldn't do that again if I wanted to. I think you may agree that these were a good addition after seeing the finished product below.

There is so much going on in the garden. I will starting transplanting and seeding in some beans and lettuce shortly plus I have to get the peas in the ground. And yes, I have to figure out the cucumber support issue and get a cracking on the tomato system very shortly. It is getting time although one wouldn't know it from the weather we have been having. I have a little to say about that based on my long history of vegetable gardening. So, I will be posting more this week as we continue to stay in place at the present time. Until next time, Happy Gardening everyone.