New Garden update and first harvest

It's been a very busy weekend here trying to do so many things around the house, new garden and old garden at the same time. It's usually very hard for us to find time during the week to actually get anything done as we're both working full time and have very long commute so by the time we get home it's usually around 6pm and very little time left of daylight. But not this weekend. Now that my hubby is feeling better he was able to spend most of the time building fencing around my garden and shoveling more dirt. As you can see he finished two sides of it - back and the left side, and hopefully can keep plucking at it during the week. I really hope that it can be close to finish by the weekend so I can plant cold-season plants and protect them from deer (more on the deer issue later this week). You can see a large bale of peat moss (2nd for that bed) and 5 bags of manure on the last bed - they are still waiting for me to spread them in beds. On Friday I will try to get more compost that has to be added to all beds. Oy.

On another note, I did my first harvest of the year - all those beautiful greens that were ready to be picked in the cold-frame. From left to right I have - Sorrel, salad, arugula and parsley. So nice to be able to have fresh greens again from the garden! While our hydroponic is good it's just not the same as when you get to pluck it from the ground :)

25 comments:

  1. The new garden is gorgeous! You're going to have all kinds of room for growing this year. And just look at those greens....I need a cold frame!

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    1. Thank you, I really hope it will be gorgeous once it's really completed and fully planted with both veggies and flowers outside. That ugly fencing will be partially hidden with grapes, raspberries, blueberries, roses and other flowers.

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  2. Jenny it all is starting to take shape and looks great!

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    1. Thank you Lisa, I hope your expansion works out too!

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  3. The new garden is looking great! It should look better and better as the season progesses.

    I well remember my old deer problems. In one of my old places they were unbelievable. I guess they didn't read since they always ate plants they were supposed to hate such as bearded iris and marigolds.
    Make sure that fence is tall and sturdy!

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    1. I used to like deer but not absolutely hate them. Still not enough to kill them but they do so much damage it's heartbreaking. Fencing is 6 feet but it doesn't seem to stop them, netting on trees and around my flowers also not stoping them - they just ate half of my tulips :(

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  4. The garden looks great. And oh, am I ever envious of your greens.
    I just fired up my cold frame the other day-it's going to be a LONG month waiting for that lettuce!

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    1. Thank you, and I actually didn't know that those greens were growing in cold frame as it wasn't properly build and I didn't really plant anything - these were just leftover seeds from summer that grew. My hubby will fix it for me so I can use it next fall.

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  5. You have quite a task set out for yourself. Good luck with it all. I have major deer issues and the solution was a fenced vegetable garden. The rest of the gardens get treatments of liquid fence. In early spring its almost every week for the first month or more and then monthly through the warm months. It has really worked for me. I'm looking out at new hosta growth right now that would be eaten to the ground without the liquid fence.

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    1. Marcia - my garden is fenced in and only those "deer proof" plants are outside. The problem is that deer don't know that they're not supposed to eat those "deer proof" plants and they demolish everything. I tried liquid fence and it did not work on deer. I'll post more about it tonight.

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  6. You have a very nice looking garden shaping up. Raised beds are very nice, but are a lot of work to build. I am sticking with my fenced garden right now, and am putting plastic under the fence to keep the grass out. Eventually, I'm going to build raised beds in the fence, so the plants have more root area. Our 5 foot fence has kept the deer out very well...so much so I'm putting circles of it around our plum and cherry trees as well. Shouldn't have any more deer issues. :)

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    1. Thank you, I did put fencing around trees and deer used it as leg support to get a better reach for young leafs :)

      raised beds is the only option here as we live in the mountains and there is no soil to work with - just rock and clay.

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    2. How close to the tree was your fence? I am putting ours about 6 feet out, so I'm hoping they won't be able to reach!

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    3. We had it about 2 feet so it's definitely not enough.

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  7. I know what you mean about the deer problem. No 6 feet fence will not stop them. Some actually pushed down my temporary fences and ate most of my red azeleas and red rhodendrons, guess my deer like red.

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    1. We're trying combination of water repelant, liquid fence and 6 foot fence. I guess I'll find out if it works comes summer time when it's time to harvest.

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  8. YOu might try some electric fence wire on top of your existing fences. For deer they say to put some strips of aluminum foil on the fence wires and smear peanut butter on the foil; this is to attract them and get them to sniff and taste, then they get a nasty shock and usually will not try again for a long time.

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    1. Unfortunately I can't use electric because of the local cats that our neigboors have. I don't want to injure innocent animal.

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  9. Beautiful harvest. And those new beds will be great.

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  10. What an awesome set up! I want these beds! Beautiful harvest too.

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  11. Amazing layout. I bet they will be eye candy when they are all green.

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    1. thank you, I hope it will be pretty once everything is growing and blooming.

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  12. Looks great Jenny, you are all ready to grow a lot veggies this year with these beds

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