Stay away bugs

Last year the cabbage worms made a mess of our brassicas. This year we made row covers. Since the brassica family produces without the assistance of pollinators, it is safe to keep them covered with a material that will only let in light, wind, and rain. We're using agribon.



The construction couldn't have been easier. We purchased one-foot sections of rebar and hammered them in around the perimeter of the beds in question. We left about three inches or so poking out and these little nubs then acted as anchors for the eventual ribbing for the structure.



The ribs are eight and ten foot lengths of recycled 3/4 inch PVC. Each end of the PVC slips over the rebar forming a frame that looks similar to that of an old covered wagon.



We couldn't find agribon wide enough to span the width of the beds with the ribs so we fastened two lengths together with clothes pins. After draping them over the ribs we weighed down the edges with strategically placed rocks. The whole shebang cost about $25. All that's left to do is keep our fingers crossed that no other mysterious pests materialize.

Back to the Future

I'm doing a major computer clean-up to make space for a new OS and a couple of programs, and I came across this top-of-the-coop photo from early July of last year:


Contrast that with this photo from a couple days ago:


Hard to believe that we'll be looking like that first photo in a month and a half.

Shout out and fun with parenthesis

Skrubtudsen at In the Toad's Garden recently put up a really cool post about mobile community gardens (Ørestad Mobile Eco-gardens). I'm not sure what his affiliation is with the project (I guess I could ask), but he has shared a few posts this past year on the development of the movement (yes I just called it a movement). Rob at One Straw Revolution does something similar, but I don't believe the garden containers he makes are transportable once they've been filled with dirt (again, I guess I could ask). I just want to give a "Hell Yes!" to these guys and any one else out there who brings gardening to those who live in communities where backyards aren't in surplus. I hope some day to do the same for some of the neighborhoods in the Philly area.

Thanks guys, you make change inspirational.

Off Saving Hyrule

You may have noticed that our blog has been a bit lacking lately. That's because a week ago I cajoled my brother into giving me our old Nintendo 64, and Kelly and I have been trying to defeat Zelda ever since.
Luckily for us, this latest obsession has coincided with lots of crazy rain and wind, so it hasn't been detracting from the garden too much.

Backyard Breakfast

This morning I went out back, gathered some eggs, harvested red oak leaf lettuce, picked some sage, and clipped a few leaves of chard. Fifteen minutes later they became breakfast. Other than the olive oil everything came from our garden/coop and it was delicious. This is one of the major reasons why we shop at home.

More Photos Coming

Our polling peas were in need of a place to climb. This is our third year gardening and every year we change the design of our trellises. This year's model is a little labor intensive, but all of the major materials are natural. We should be done with the whole thing tomorrow, weather permitting, and will share more photos with a more detailed description. Until then, here's a sneak peek.

New Shoots

Early May is when tons of little alien spiky things grow out of our yard and begin to turn into bamboo. Kelly likes to kick them over and our landlord likes to eat them, but I just think they're kind of nice looking.

No Mow

Our landlord has a keen interest in just letting things go. We won't mention the condition of the house (bad vibes), but outside there is an odd array of random volunteer trees and patches of grass a foot or so high. I don't know what it is, but he hates having the grass cut. We suffer our share of ticks through the year, nothing bad, and the chickens think it sucks. However, right now it's not so bad. The wildness of our yard has invited a shabby meadow. There is color everywhere.

Thinking Way Ahead

In the world of "What ifs," Meg and I have contemplated the possibility of renting for another year or two and what that would mean for the garden. The idea we are tossing around is joining the herb garden with the vegetable garden to create what would be a 3,000 square foot backyard market.

I took this photo from the far edge of the herb garden furthest away from the vegetable garden. If you look to the far right of the photo you can see a little concrete pillar (it's a stand for the birdbath), that marks where the herb garden ends. (I know it doesn't look like much of an herb garden now, but Meg, myself, and Steveo have big plans for it's rejuvenation later this month.) The grass area from the concrete pillar to the garden fence would be double dug and fenced in. It would be a shit load of work for someone else's property, so I hope we can get out of here before it gets to that. Like I said, it's a "What if."

Shady Grove

Not too long ago we erected a sunshade to protect the bed of greens and peas. When the rest of the garden fills in we won't have a need for the contraption, but for now the high-noon sun is just a bit too much.

The set up really is as easy as it looks; we just tied a sheet to one end of the fence and ran a line from the corners of the opposite end of the sheet to the fence on the other side. The string running on the left side of the photo is attached to the fence with loops as opposed to tying it on. The loops allow us to slide the string on and off the fence posts so we can pull the shade back on cloudy days.