This weekend was a bit of a wash, garden-wise, though it was rich in personal gain, as we watched our daughter perform (several times!) in a production of Mulan. Helping out with the performances and dealing with the logistics of getting our son home from his band competition in LA took up all of Saturday. Tom is sick with a nasty cold, and I have a foot injury, so there wasn't much done in the yard.
Tom did manage to get gates built for the 'new' fence, but we are having trouble finding the perfect hardware with which to hang them. Meanwhile we are chasing deer out of our garden every night. We park our cars in front of the gates, and prop long pieces of wood against them to deter them, but sometimes we forget and then I go out in the morning and find the beans eaten. Argh. I cannot describe how demoralizing this is. We are having much more deer activity than we did last year at this time, and I think it must be an effect of the drought. Likely there's nothing to eat in the hills. And I'm sorry for the poor deer, but honestly. There's plenty of grass to eat around the neighborhood, they can eat that!
On top of that the dog has been digging again in the pepper bed and I don't know how to get him to stop. Today I fashioned a screen out of hardware cloth and laid it in the bed, we'll see if that stops him. Between the deer and the dog, I have to say I've been a bit depressed when I walk out in to the yard. I guess also I am maybe feeling the results of several months of non-stop work in the garden every weekend. I think we just might be the tiniest bit burned out.
There's one thing that made me very happy this weekend, and that's my new canning shelf, made by Dad. I hung the garlic braids I made from our harvest, and there's a jar of honey on the shelves from last year's hive, as well as a dry garden my mom gave me and a painting I made a few years ago. I'm excited to fill these shelves with pickles and preserves.
Tom did manage to get gates built for the 'new' fence, but we are having trouble finding the perfect hardware with which to hang them. Meanwhile we are chasing deer out of our garden every night. We park our cars in front of the gates, and prop long pieces of wood against them to deter them, but sometimes we forget and then I go out in the morning and find the beans eaten. Argh. I cannot describe how demoralizing this is. We are having much more deer activity than we did last year at this time, and I think it must be an effect of the drought. Likely there's nothing to eat in the hills. And I'm sorry for the poor deer, but honestly. There's plenty of grass to eat around the neighborhood, they can eat that!
On top of that the dog has been digging again in the pepper bed and I don't know how to get him to stop. Today I fashioned a screen out of hardware cloth and laid it in the bed, we'll see if that stops him. Between the deer and the dog, I have to say I've been a bit depressed when I walk out in to the yard. I guess also I am maybe feeling the results of several months of non-stop work in the garden every weekend. I think we just might be the tiniest bit burned out.
There's one thing that made me very happy this weekend, and that's my new canning shelf, made by Dad. I hung the garlic braids I made from our harvest, and there's a jar of honey on the shelves from last year's hive, as well as a dry garden my mom gave me and a painting I made a few years ago. I'm excited to fill these shelves with pickles and preserves.
Gorgeous, right?
I'm hoping to have an attitude adjustment and have lots of progress to show you later this week.