Thursday, May 19, 2016

Veggies are "IN!" Garden is Looking Good

The fence is up, a gate is attached and we have vegetable plants in the ground. Yay! noTTafarm's vegetable garden is well on its way toward a fantastic summer harvest.
Sunday afternoon (May 15), Scott and I tackled putting up the second layer of 2x4 wire mesh fencing. It wasn't nearly as difficult as we thought. Scott unrolled the fencing around the perimeter, then we lifted each side up, hooking it on the rebar which extends above the posts. He again used the air crown stapler to affix the wire to the posts. I helped out by wiring the two panels together at regular intervals.
Side Note:  Look at this cool bench my daddy, Ray, built for us! He used wood salvaged from their deck dismantled last summer. The back splat is crafted of hickory. It is quite the comfy throne from which to survey the garden!
Later Sunday, Scott installed the gate. He screwed two lag bolt-style hinge receivers into the left post.
The lower bolt was a toughy! The vise grip made it a little easier.
Ta Da!
Horse stall door turned garden gate.
We met Mom and Dad Camp at Mulhall's after work on Tuesday (May 17) to peruse the vegetable plant selection. We came away with 15 tomato plants, hand selected for variety and deliciousness by Carl. Scott found six various sweet pepper plants, and I picked up two smallish rhubarb plants. On the way home from Mulhall's, I stopped at Home Depot for $2.50-each basil, purple basil, thyme and rosemary.

Side note: if you ever feel blue, take a trip to Mulhall's. Everything there - from the plants to the home decor to the fancy patio furniture - is so beautiful and good for the soul. 
Before dark on Tuesday, Scott stapled the 24"-tall chicken wire to the lower portion of the fence.
I followed behind, shoveling dirt back into the trench where the chicken wire terminated. There's no way any burrowing pest is going to get through now. I'm not going to lie - I didn't finish before dark. Carrying shovelfuls of dirt, squirming with earthworms is exhausting.
A chicken wire piece was stapled to the back of the gate.
With the final piece of fencing in place, it was finally time to plant. Wednesday after dinner, Mom and Dad came over for the planting party.
Carl took a few minutes of contemplation to design the perfect layout of the tomatoes. Varieties include cherry, early girl, big boy and heirloom green zebra.
The finished tomato bed; Scott's peppers, the basil and rhubarb are in the next bed east.
Dad planted additional seeds in the northwest bed. The lettuce they planted a week ago is already up!
Thursday (May 19) evening, Scott installed the gate hardware. He built up the support on the right post for the receiver of the self-closing latch. 
The gate swings easily and the latch works great! 
And just in time! This rabbit doesn't stand a chance against the awesome fortress we've built to protect our veggies. Now that the garden is done, what should we do?
Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

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