Rebuilding the Last Raised Bed. 12.21.21

Today I laid down a mole barrier, and rebuilt the raised bed that Ms. amd Mr. Mole destroyed in late summer. I had emptied the soil earlier, which I used for filling the newest raised beds. Today I smoothed the base ground a bit more. I think what happened was part of the original mole barrier was chicken wire, which rusted away. There is still galvanized hardware cloth in place. The moles had undermined the corner supports, which splayed outwards, then the boards collapsed and I no longer had a tidy and functioning raised bed. The base is galvanized deer fencing, with a second layer of plastic deer fencing. These were previously used around trees, so nothing new was needed and I didn't have to dispose of those used fencing.

Around the sides, later I will put down walkways, and the mole barrier overlap wont show any more. The rebar that runs through the cement corners was two feet long, so only 6 inches into the ground. the new rebar is 4 feet long, so 2 1/2 feet into the ground. That should help anchor the corners better. After installing the lower two layers of cement corners and boards, I ran wire from rebar to rebar, to tighten them a little more against splaying outwards too.

Then I added the top layer of cement corners and boards. The wires will not show at all and wont be in the way.

Now all that remains is a sheet-plastic liner on the sides, and fill again with soil. The liner is meant to reduce contact between the boards and soil to a minimum. I can get that started this week, and gradually fill, taking as long a time as I want. This bed wont be planted until May or June, although I'd like to plant a cover crop or cool weather stuff like spinach lettuce, radishes, in Feb or March.

First Snow. 12.19.21

We had the first snow of the year. Rather than putting lights up high, we just put them in the sunroom and on the rail.

My contribution was to make a holiday curtain for the kitchen windows.

Very slowly working on checking pH in garden beds. Most seem around pH 7 so far.

Saving Seeds. Pink Banana Squash. 12.17.21

Today I cut up the Pink Banana Squash that I had hand-pollinated so I'm confident the seed is true to type. The flesh is still pretty good, noce fragrance but a little dry now. I washed some of the seeds and laid them on newspaper to dry for a few days.

Nematocidal Mustard Winter Ground Cover. 12.17.21

I think it's very, very late to be planting a ground cover. However, if the ground is turned over, weeds will sprout and grow thickly before I need thw garden bed in May or June. I think mustard might be as hardy as any weeds, and might either germinate soon and survive fhe winfer, or ferminate afte the coldest weather before I can work the soil again. So I took a chance. This mustard variety is used by potato farmers as a green manure cover crop, because it kills nematodes better than nematocide chemicals.

I used a garden claw to roughen up the soil a bit. It didn't need tilling or digging. this area has been sweet corn for two growing seasons, so I will grow squash here next year. The leaf covered area needed more enrichment, so it has a thick blanket of leaves that will be turned in next Spring.

It was nice to get out into the garden today. This chore was a bonus - I didn't plan on doing it, and I'm curious to see if/how well the mustard seeds grow.

A Doggie Raincoat For Rufus. 12.17.21

The last rain coat kept slipping sideways. The inside of the vinyl is quite slippery. I keep meaning to make one with a much less slippery lining and now I did. The raincoat vinyl was a large human raincoat that I bought two or three years ago at BiMart for $4. If necessary, it has enough remaining for a third rain coat, maybe more. That contrasts to Joann's which had the actual fabric for something like $17 a yard. I forget how much but it surprised me. Might have been more. The corduroy shirt was at thrift shirt for half price, so $3.50. Again, to buy the fabric itself would cost many times that. My goal was less than $10 for the rain coat and we much more than met that. I priced them in the past at the pet store at $35 and more, and they never fit him. He has a big chest for his stubby legs, skinny belly and short body. This one fits him perfectly. Before making.

After, inside.

After, outside.

The black rectangles are Velcro. It works great except when wet, then is comes open. It's a raincoat so it gets wet. I will replace it with snaps. I hope those do better. I already had the yellow polyester bias tape edging and the velcro, somdid not include that in the cost. Also, I used a washable spray adhesive to hold it together without pins. I already had that too. I rough cut it, sprayed, bonded together, trimmed for nice edges before sewing on the bias tape fabric.

Rufus doesn't mind wearing it at all. It does the required function of keeping most of him dry. I doubt he would allow a hood, but I may try later. My initial thought was to use flannel, which I think would have worked fine but I could not find any that met my cost constraints. I was actually leaving the store when I saw the corduroy shirt that someone had cast aside in the wrong aisle. I think that probably works even better than flannel. There was a lot left over, and I'm sure it will go into other projects.