Deer Fence. 10.16.2020

This year's new deer fence worked out wonderfully.  Other than the recent tragedy last week when I left the gate open for just a single night.  Just one night.  

Fortunately, that was after almost all of the veggies have been harvested for the year.  I hope the mini apple trees will survive and come back.  We'll see...  in April.

 This photo was in Nov, shortly after the fence was built. This year, having a good fenced garden was a life saver.  It gave a better crop of plants that in previous years didn't grow at all due to deer and, sometimes, rabbits.  It was far easier to manage that my previous make-shift fencing.  I was able to branch out and grow a few things that I wanted to try, and the animals always destroyed before, like beans and peas.  Even the supposedly deer-resistant plants, like onions and garlic, did better.

It was wonderful not having to think of my vegetable garden as a battleground against deer, and also rabbits.  It was the best, most diverse, most productive garden that I have ever had.

Space is at a premium.  Last winter I didn't have room elsewhere for potatoes, which don't need that protection.   Next year they'll go where I currently have sweetcorn and old raised beds. That will free up some additional space.  Also, I won't plant so many snow peas, which can spread too much for the amount that I want.  I might move some squash outside of the fence, although that can be a iffy prospect because deer like some varieties and leave others alone.  On the other hand, raised beds and fruit trees will take up more room than this year, so I need to plan carefully.

 

 

Red Oak Seedling at One Year Old. 10.24.2020

 Here is a red oak tree that I grew from an acorn.  It's one of the few that deer missed on their dinner night out in my garden.  Now it has brilliant red leaves.  Some of the others were a nice red too, but this one is incredible.  I fond a nice location for it and planted in the ground, with some fencing for protection.  Red oaks grow faster than while oaks, so it has potential to reach at least "tree size" during my lifetime

I imagine that the other deer marauding victims will recover and grow next year.  There are a couple that I would like to save.  I also noted that while the red oaks were de-leafed, the white oaks were left untouched.  Tougher, smaller leaves?  Or just not noticed?

Remodeling a Plant Stand. 10.15.2020

 This has been my plant stand for starting vegetable seeds, for about 20 years.  Most of it is metal, but the tabletop was particle board with some sort of plastic or contact paper to look like faux wood, sort of.

The metal parts are in fairly good shape.  They can be cleaned of with steel wool and given a couple of coats of Rust-oleum.  I'm leaning towards a bronze look, which matches other furniture in the sun room.

I found a plank a little more than twice as long as the table top, and a bit more than half as wide.  I cut two pieces, and edge glued them, along with three braces on the underside which I glued into place and "clamped" with drywall screws.  I also found some 1 x 2 trim in the shed and cut to make a trim all around.  After installing that, using wood glue and 1 1/2 inch nails, I have the general look that I want.

Since this will be a plant stand, I'd like for it to be a bit more water tolerant.  I might finish the top using vinyl plank flooring left over from a bedroom remodel.  I could paint the trim either the same bronze, or black.   I'm not sure yet.  The wood is nothing special at all, but I could do a dark stain and apply a few coats of polyurethane.

Plant stand before starting.  You can't tell, but that fake wood grain plastic coating just peeled off like badly sunburned skin.

 

It disassembled fairly easily.  This is one of those assemble-with-an-allen-wrench types of furniture.  That metal frame is nice and sturdy.  

I sat the cut pieces of wood on the bottom section to look at them for a while.

After gluing and fastening the two planks together, same for braces on underside, and installing edging.

There is still a front piece to install, but this is most of the construction.  I don't want to install the drawers again.  They are just ugly and useless.  The front piece will somewhat hide the lights that I want to install under the table top.   The new top is almost interesting enough to apply some sort of whitewash type finish, if there is something water-proof that I could use for a seal.  I still think I'm most likely to pain the trim black, or dark grey, and install vinyl flooring as the top surface.  It's just more practical for a plant starting station.

I like this enough so far, I might make a similar wide shelf for the lower part to start vegetable plants under LED plant lights.  The current shelf is narrow metal.  I'm sure there are more wood planks in the shed.  I guess I should finish this part before embellishing it with something more.

Now to wait for Amazon to deliver the wood fillers and Rust-oleum.  I'm not into going to Home Depot for a viral version of Russian Roulette just yet.

Deer Damage. 10.15.2020

 Yesterday when I was checking the shed, I forgot to close the garden gate.  That's the only time I forgot, all year.

With deer, it only takes once.  They completely defoliated every miniature apple tree, every espalier apple tree, and grabbed a few raspberry leaves too.

It's hard to take a photo of something that's not there.  In this case, leaves.  I'm beyond discouraged.  I suppose that this late in the year, that just means they will head into dormancy.  I hope they won't be set back much and won't try to regrow.  Dammit.

Installing Home-Made Shed Doors. 10.15.2020

 This project is almost done.  The shed needs some clean up and painting, and a garden tool rack.  The biggest job was getting myself in gear to make and install a new set of doors.

I posted earlier about how I made the doors.  I cut them from an available sheet of siding, with 1 x 4 lumber cut to make supporting framing and trim.  Then glued them on, with drywall screws, screwed in from the inside aspect while the glue was wet.  Grout and paint.  

The shed turned out to be leaning, which I can't fix.  I installed the doors level, which meant some creative door hanging.  It came out OK.   It's also not in great condition - it was sat on the bare ground who knows how many years ago.  There is dry rot.  Still, it's a shed, not a house.  Getting it working for a couple of years would be OK. 

Here is how it looks now, with the doors and trim installed and the trim grouted. 

That turned out pretty good.  I saved the 2 x 4 framing from the old door, to make a tool rack.  The rest is falling apart, so the boards go to the wood pile and the siding goes to the trash.

For comparison, here was the shed a few days ago.

If there's another warm sunny day, I can scrape and paint. Otherwise, that part will await Spring.

Yates American Persimmons. Early Harvest. 10.11.2020

 These persimmons are about a month early.  They were already falling off the tree.  Yates is an American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), so smaller than grocery store Asian persimmons (Diospyros kaki), but with a richer flavor, like apricots with spices and drenched in wildflower honey.  These were just that good.

This tree is fenced, which is good.  I'm sure the critters would have absconded with all of these, leaving me none.

Making New Shed Doors. 10.11.2020

 This shed was on the verge of demolition.  However, it's quite close to my garden and orchard.  It would be nice to store tools in it.  I would spend a lot less time and effort carrying tools across the road from the house.  That would make gardening more pleasant.  We already store straw and some kindling in it.  The door is huge, and very heavy.  It pulled the hinge screws out of the frame.  The door itself is 4 feet wide, 6 feet tall, and has its own frame made from 2 X 4s.  

I think that a scraping and repainting would preserve the shed for another several years, if not a decade.  It needs a new plywood floor.  I can do that.  The inside framing seems fine.  The siding is T1-11, which is bad, but it's a shed, not a house.  I can clean up or replace bad pieces, seal and paint them to last a few more years.

The main problem is that door. It's incredibly heavy, and re-installing it was a temporary measure.  It just pulled the screws out of the frame again.  I decided to make a new one but make two doors, half the width, and without that 2 X 4 framing.  So they will probably weigh about 1/3 to 1/4 as much.  I found a 4 X 8 foot sheet of siding, stored in another shed.  I cut it down to 4 X 6 foot , then cut that into two 2 X 6 foot sheets.  I bought some 1 X 4 boards from Lowes during my last trip there, to cut for framing / trim.

I've been kind of dreading doing this.  It's too many infrastructure projects this year.  However, once starting, it has gone quite fast and not really difficult.  The worst part was moving the big sheet of siding, and cutting it.

Here are the sheets of siding, with the cut 1 X  4 boards arranged like I wanted them.  I used these to add some strength, and help flatten the siding which had a slight, subtle warp.

I numbered the boards and their locations so I wouldn't mess them up when they are glued and screwed together.  One door got numbers, the other got letters.

I used outdoor grade wood glue, and drywall screws.  I screwed them through the back so they would be tight and make a good glue-bond and not show or be exposed to the elements.  Then I used outdoor, paintable caulk to seal all of the nooks and crannies and edges so water wont soak in.

This morning I painted the doors with some left over house paint.  I think there is enough for a second coat, plus paint the entire shed.  Then it will match the house.  It's a darker grey than it looks in the photo.

 

 

Next I need a good dry day to repair and paint the siding above the door, install the new framing, and install the doors.  That will be a good start at having a usable garden shed.

 

Here is the shed as it stands now.   It looks decrepit and shabby.  I think putting on new trim, scraping, applying new paint, and installing the new doors will help a lot.  As it is now, I just lean the old door against it's opening, which is unsafe and looks like something out of Fargo.

Kitchen Curtain for Halloween. Sewing Project. And a Face Mask. 10.6.2020

 I decided to do a little sewing project.  We didn't like the kitchen curtains.  It's just a valence - we don't want to obstruct the view of the back yard and Rufus.  I made these from a Halloween theme cotton fabric.  When Halloween season is done, I'm planning on a set for Thanksgiving.  It's a way to acknowledge and enjoy the holiday and season times, without going all out on buying stuff.

 These were fun to make.  I didn't have a pattern, so I reverse engineered them from an old set.  I don't think I made a lot of mistakes, but there were some learning points.  Next one should go even more smoothly.

I also made some coronavirus face masks using extra from the fabric.  It makes a nice Halloween theme face mask..

Rubinette Apple. 10.2.2020

 This was the first really good crop for Rubinette.  It fruited a little for the past three years, but not much and they were ruined.  I think they had San Jose Scale, which I treated last winter with dormant oil spray.  It worked.  I don't see effects of scale, at least not yet.

Rubinette has a reputation as the best tasting, or one of the best tasting, apples around.  I know, each year there seems to be a new "Best Tasting" apple.  This one really was excellent.  I would at least say it is among the best tasting apples in my orchard.  Truly delicious.  Decent crop this year, too.

Grenadine Apple. 10.2.2020

 These were the first of the Grenadine apples.   They have red flesh, as marketed.  They seem fairly scab susceptible, like Airlie Red Flesh.  Also similar to Airlie Red Flesh, the skin is mostly green, although some redness shows through as a muddy color.  The main difference is Grenadine is round and very tart.  Maybe leaving them on the tree longer will sweeten them up, but Wowza, this one was like a lemon drop!

This first photo compares Grenadine to Fuji Beni Shogun.  The Fugi was much sweeter.  I may have noted a little "Red Hawaiian Punch" flavor in the Grenadine.