Sunday, November 18, 2007

Back in August, we had a work day.

This was a very productive workday. First we moved the lettuce beds from the side of the house to the side of the back yard.

Before. Notice the squash plants on the left which will produce the lovely squash highlighted in this entry. Anyway. The lettuce beds on the side of the house didn't really work because they get too little sun. So we moved them over on the right side of the yard....
As you can see here. You can't really see in this photo, but the apple trees got relocated to the ends of the raised beds. I think they will get more sun there and be happier. I've been having problems with cats and squirrels digging in the beds, so I put yogurt container lids all over trying to discourage them from digging. It didn't really work. I'm going to get floating row covers before I plant next year to see if that solves the problem.
Back in May we started seed for Spearmint, Peppermint and Pennyroyal. At the time we were inundated with ants and read that planting mint around you house will repel the ants. Of the 60 seeds we started (20 of each) we ended up with 4 peppermint plants and about 16 pennyroyal plants. We planted them around the house. They should make a nice ground cover between the grass and the house. Already they are winning by surviving in our cement soil.
And yes, I know mint spreads. It is not near the garden so have no fear.
We also worked on Matt's bike. We changed the knobby tires out for road ones and put on the bike rack. We also put in some tubes filled with slime to help him avoid flats. His bike is all set to go!

1 comment:

Sara K. said...

Busy, busy, busy! Great work! I am always impressed with gardening dedication. It takes work and commitment. I don't quite have the stamina (or the yard for that matter!). Mmmm...mint! That is smell that reminds me of Idaho - driving in the summers by the mint fields. -S