When Ed and I toured our "backyard" gardens for activity, we noticed that the garlic we had planted in the fall was beginning to sprout. It never ceases to amaze me and to bring me joy how that works (...that you plant something...and it grows...)!
While admiring the sign of spring, I noticed one garlic shoot that had been bitten (by what, we're not sure). It was then I decided to put down some of the netting that I had purchased for the sole purpose of deterring mammal pests in the garden (large or small); the black plastic netting came on a 100 foot roll and is approximately 10 feet wide with about 1/4" mesh. I had seen it used that way on a Youtube video (of course).
Ed pointed out that it would probably be best for the long term if I did not just lay the netting over the bed as I was intending. And as it turns out, both Ed and I had been separately watching Youtube videos on how to put tunnels over raised beds with PVC. We watched a couple additional videos together that night, and the next day, I was off to our local Do-It-Center and Ace hardware stores to buy the necessary supplies (12 foot 1/2 inch PVC and the associated 3/4" strapping to hold the PVC in place; I bought the strapping just a bit bigger so that the PVC could slide in/out without too much effort).
I made the purchases on my own as Ed had a full day of maple syrup boiling ahead of him. I took a car that was too small for my purchase and I had to have the PVC stick out my windows (it was a long ride home!).
Armed with the supplies, it took Ed no time at all to attach the strapping to the inside of the raised beds with his drill and then for us to cut / bend the PVC into place. I attached the netting with zip ties and "waa laa". Because the netting is hard to see and because we don't want birds getting caught in the netting, I tied some orange tape to the PVC pipes; it doesn't look pretty but hopefully it will be effective.
This weekend, I also finished loading up the galvanized metal bins that I had recently purchased at Walmart's garden center with compost. The metal bins have holes in the bottom for drainage (they also came with rubber plugs should we change our mind and want to use them for something else). My intention is to use these bins for our herbs. There are 10 bins in all... one at the base of each raised bed took care of locating 8 of them; I still need to find spots for 2 more. Once filled, they were too heavy for me to move alone - so thank you Ed for helping!
It won't be too much longer before I do some seed starting indoors. Oh, the joy that spring brings!
Comments