In Focus

The sun is shining, temperatures are rising, and the plants inside are growing—it’s gardening season!

This year, I may have gotten a bit carried away with starting seeds early, so I needed to expand my garden. Not only that, but I also required taller fencing to help deter the deer. So, this weekend I started my project and tilled, weeded and put up fencing. It was a lot of work!

I had a pile of T-posts, but I didn’t have a large enough post pounder to get them in the ground, so I had to purchase one. I also picked up a few rolls of four-foot-tall chicken wire and asked my neighbors if I could borrow their garden tillers.

I took down my old two-foot fence and posts and reused them for the neighbors’ raised beds. The deer discovered the raised bed full of lettuce last year and turned it into their personal buffet. That is not going to happen again this year!

I doubled the width of my garden and pounded in the T-posts. The pounder was heavy, which made the job go faster, but I’m not built for that kind of work. Let’s just say there were plenty of breaks taken during this part of the project. But I eventually got it done!

I started stringing the chicken wire around the perimeter, tightening it with zip ties as I went. It doesn’t look half bad—though it could be better.

Tilling was the worst part. The smaller tiller wouldn’t break up the sod. The larger one worked, but it was a challenge for me to handle. I went over the newly expanded area several times that evening and a few more times the next morning. There are still patches of untouched grass, but it’s much better than it was. I think I’ll just grab a shovel to complete the final touches.

I had some random pieces of PVC pipe from various projects, and I used them to create a frame, adding chicken wire to make a gate for the garden. I spray painted it different colors because I’m not a fan of white. I also ordered some solar lights and hope my mom doesn’t destroy them this year. She has a knack for finding the cord to the solar panel and cutting it with the weed whacker!

My hope is to find a couple of cattle panels soon to put in the garden because I really want to create a squash tunnel. If that doesn’t work out, I guess there’s always next year.

In addition to cleaning out and weeding the Chaos Garden (my flower garden), I sprinkled several packets of wildflower and pollinator seeds around the perimeter of the garden.

Hopefully, next weekend I can get the seedlings planted. Some of them are outgrowing their plastic pots and are ready to be moved outside. I’m also eager to plant them so I won’t have to keep cleaning up after the cats, who seem to like knocking them over. They have survived the cat abuse so they should thrive in the garden!

I am so ready for flowers and fresh veggies!