I missed gardening last year, but now that I know my wife is okay, I feel emotionally able to make an attempt at it this year.
My first year here in the house was really successful, but as we know, the squirrels really came in strong as garden raiders and soil destroyers. While kind of funny that they just ignored the chicken wire and crawled right through, it was aggravating.
Now that my hoop house is recovered in hardware cloth, with 1/2″ by 1/2″ squares, the squirrels have not been able to get in.
I, unfortunately discovered I have some pre-season work I have to do to finish all that up.
Between the layer of chicken wire and hardware cloth, weeds are growing. They are super hard to remove because of the chicken wire. I have to literally cut back the chicken wire and then pull the weeds. That’s hard for me to do. It requires bending over and my joints just don’t like it. I can do a section, maybe two at a time.
Add to that, that this is the Pacific Northwest, and it’s often pouring this time of year. That makes it super hard to get all this done. This week it’s been clear, but in the 20F temperature range, and I am just gonna have to wait until things clear up.
During my last work session, I pulled the good soil out of the other beds, and used it to top off the ones in my protected garden. I am going to concentrate on the beds that are protected in my hoop house first and work on the rest through out the year.
I have decided to pull my other beds by the front and back of the house, and create kind of a gravel pad to put them on. I am just not into weeding, as it hurts a lot to do, so I would rather build it in that there is a reduced chance of weeds happening up front.
I’m going to create gravel beds along the back of the house, the front of the house, and in front of the deck. I’m making them good and wide, and putting my metal beds on top of that.
A side benefit is it will take more of the lawn out. I am not a fan of grass lawns, so that is a bonus.
My plan is to get some soil and gravel delivered, so I can work on this when the days come up that it’s decent enough to get something done. Then add in an irrigation system after the last freeze. I am putting a timer on this shit!
By fall I hope to have all the new bed areas set up and ready. That way next year I will have my wife’s requested flower beds, and less lawn to mow.
Garden Rat 