Mole-proofed beds with new paths
Today, we finished the mole proofing project. All told, we dug out eight existing raised beds, installed hardware cloth, and then refilled the beds. We also built two new beds, installing the hardware cloth up front this time. Take that moles!
Just as we finished up the mole project, we started another project. Yes, I’m a glutton for punishment. When we built the raised beds, we did so over a grassy area. Well, the grass around the beds has been driving me nuts so I decided today that I would put down thick landscaping fabric and crushed rock around the beds. We’ll work on this one on and off over the next few months. It’s about as much fun as the mole-proofing project. 😉
In the pic above, you can see the bed with the bean towers. This bed was my failed asparagus bed. Since we had to dig it out anyway, I removed the few crowns that were left and planted them in another part of the yard where they might be able to naturalize. They might just die. I’m going to need to start over with asparagus anyway (maybe next year) and at least this way the few good crowns have a shot at doing something. In this bed, I planted two varieties of celery (Utah and a red variety) and day neutral onion sets. I bought a small batch of these at the Territorial Seed Store when we were traveling through Oregon.
You can also see that the beds have been freshly mulched. We’re continuing with our fall clean up (yes, sadly late I know) and raked a bunch of Big Leaf Maple leaves today. Derek raked most of the leaves and then ran them through our mulcher. We then spread them out on the raised beds to act as a mulch. As they break down, they will serve as a good soil amendment.
Shiro plum in full bloom
The Shiro plum is the first of our fruit trees to bloom each year. And every year (so far) it provides a huge crop of plums. It is the easiest fruit tree I have. On Friday, we had some nice sun in the afternoon and the bees were out pollinating the tree. I hope we’ll have a good crop again this year.
How is your spring gardening coming along?
Sandy
The beds and newly rocked walkways look really good! You have a lot of good growth going on your garlic in the forefront of that first picture. The Shiro plum tree is just gorgeous. They seem to be a very content variety in this region as I know others with the same variety also get reliably good harvests from them.
Wow, I can’t imagine digging out all my beds and I’ve only got 4. You really are dedicated… hehe.
I’m glad your spring garden is working out. I know how much you grow and envy you that! My spring garden is all-but planted, I have a little space left and a fair amount after I harvest my over-wintered carrots.
Mostly I’ve been doing the baby chick thing this spring. They are too cute!
In hindsight, putting the mesh on *before* filling with dirt is far less work. Something to remember when Sandy has me build more boxes. 🙂
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