Friday, May 15, 2009

Almost finished!

Last Sunday, I finished laying the landscaping fabric and enlisted MB's help in putting up the first part of the fencing. Last year the chicken wire did a good job keeping rabbits out of the vegetables, but I didn't want to have gaps between the real fence and the wire, because that's part of what led to our weed problems. I'm hoping that lining the chainlink fence with the chicken wire will do the trick.



The raised bed is kicking ass:



On Wednesday, I picked out the veggie plants.


Moonflower seeds from EvilDucky, soaking:



Yesterday the promised rain held off and I got the veggies in the ground. Because last year my zucchini plant fell victim to some kind of wasting phenomenon, possibly caused by a nematode in the soil, I figured I'd try keeping it out of the ground this time around. Luckily, I scored a giant planter on clearance at Lowe's for a dollar:


Since I'm basically making this up as I go along, I picked my veggies based mostly on their names. And let's be honest. Boxcar Willie? That is awesome. AWESOME.

I made a map of where everything is so that as the summer goes on and my memory utterly fails, I'll still be able to figure out what's what:



First week photos!

Cucumber, week 1:


Tomatoes, week 1:


Zucchini, week 1:


Peppers, week 1:


And while I was working, look who was chillin like a very dapper villain:


Now he's noticed that I've noticed him, and is studiously ignoring me because he knows I'm going to tell him to get off the table:



And finally, today I planted snapdragons and moss roses in the little bitty corner bed by the front gate:



And added an annex onto the raised bed for herbs:


A few more buckets of fill dirt, and it'll be ready.

3 comments:

Meg said...

Looking good! By the way, I've heard tansy works as ant control (for sugar ants)...save & dry some leaves from it and if you develop any ant problems, crush the dried leaves and sprinkle the pieces around points of entry.

Lemon thyme also works to help reduce the mosquitos....and smells lovely, too! I have this around my deck. Doesn't work 100%, but definitely seems to help some.

cadiz12 said...

great work! H and i have been digging out my mom's raised bed garden (the railroad ties holding it together for the last 30 years were falling apart). it has been SO MUCH MORE work than we expected, so i have a newfound respect for gardeners everywhere!

EvilDucky77 said...

Everything looks great! :)