Mending the fence

Got a fair amount of maintenance done tonight at the plot. Attacked the bittersweet that's been colonizing the fenceline, yanked out a lot of mystery tubers that grow 3' tall (hmph. If only my veggies would be so vigorous right?!) and mowed somed of the grass coming up in the walkways. I cleared out one of the smaller beds and that'll be my flower garden - it's already got columbine growing there so that's a good omen for the kinds of flowers I'm fond of. Then finally I tackled nailing up the chickenwire (and what's with the sudden enthusiasm for calling it "poultry fencing"?!) to complete the rest of the back fence. My neighbors in that direction look as though they've given up, which would be too bad, since they're awfully nice, but given that they have a new baby, I can only imagine: probably something had to give, time-wise. I'll be pleasantly surprised if I see them return though. Lots of other people (including the new gardeners working overtime to put up their fences while sorting out their soil, laying mulch, prepping beds, etc) are really doing well this year. It's fun to walk through and admire everyones different gardens and little spaces to sit and enjoy their garden. I'm personally slightly envious of those who have arbors set up - I'm hoping to get one set up for myself later in the summer, but obviously a lot of other things could get in the way of that getting built.

The little plants starters I laid in this weekend are looking alright, and in addition to the cage, I laid some of that white cloth over them to keep the bugs and other critters off. It makes it a little less cheery to look at, but I'm hoping it'll increase my chances of getting a yield from my various little plants. I forget what that stuff is called, but I'd saved it from last season, and I find that exclusion methods seem to work best for me. Too bad I can't set up an entire enclosure of that stuff: it would be nice to avoid the mob of mosquitoes, but they really like me this season. Oddly enough, I've been reading this book about color, pigments and dyes in art history, and it mentioned that one of the very non-mysterious reasons ancient peoples tended to paint themselves with ochre is that it tends to protect one from insects. Not so dumb, huh! Granted, I have no idea where to obtain some of that rock, and even were it easily obtainable in the raw form you still wouldn't catch me painting myself up with it to go gardening. On the other hand, given how covered in dirt I come OUT of the garden due to all my swatting at the pests with my dirt-covered gloves, maybe it's all the same?!

So next visit should include the new gate, some mint-mulching (works so far), some seed planting, and a little more digging. That's the news from plot 78B - keep digging and drop by if you're in the neighborhood.

- Posted from my iPhone...