You may have thought I was kidding
when I said the rascally rabbits
and squirrels
and skunks
and other rodents
{not to mention the grasshoppers…}
were madly chomping out here in my little garden.
I Wasn’t…
 |
| The new arsenal ~ hardware cloth to line the bed. |
These garden terrorists armed to the teeth
ate all of the roots
leaves and most of the stems of
the lovely plants I had planted in this garden
just this past spring.
They have decimated every plant except the ones in
the front garden
which
for whatever reason
they haven’t dug underneath
{too many roots from the surrounding trees, I expect!}
and eaten those roots, too.
 |
| Here’s how this garden started out when I planted it. |
I had high hopes of having a lovely garden
out here at The Lake
but there is an abundance of wildlife who have
voracious appetites
so…
Basically not much is left of the original three rose bushes,
five lavender plants
and
this cute geranium…
 |
| The geraniums survived the chewing holocaust only giving their last here in June. |
So, I’m having to get crafty and become
Wiley Coyote~ish
in my tactics to have a garden.
I want fresh tomatoes and other veggies and herbs!
The rascals can have a little
but
That’s It!!!
Here’s the hardware cloth I decided to try ~
I made a box out of five feet of it
after measuring the inside
upper part of the already~built planter.
It had to be tweaked a little
once most of the dirt was shoveled out
with a little more bending, cutting and folding
of the cloth.
Then I used our compressor and staple gun
to staple the cloth to the upright posts.
“Why didn’t you use
pressure~treated
lumber?” you ask…
Yes, I know… And normally I would have!
but
I want to plant edibles and the older lumber
should have leached out most of its harmful chemicals
by this point.
{Didn’t kill the many critters who chomped, did it??}
😉
If I used new treated lumber
planting edibles wouldn’t be possible
so…
I opted for douglas fir
which should hold up for several years
and through
several people after our time here is up!
😉
When working with hardware cloth
or any wire~type cloth
such as chicken wire,
wear gloves and eye protection
and pull out your
different wire cutters and pliers to assist you
in cutting and assembling.
Pull out a measuring tape
and hammer
too.
Do replace any dry~rotted wood
and
strap the posts to help hold them upright
as you staple the hardware fabric to the pieces.
I purchased two eight~foot long 4″x4″ posts
marking off 16″, 18″ and 20″ lengths.
I asked the man in the lumber department at
Home Depot
if he’d cut them for me
which he gladly did.
Getting back to the garden…
I knocked out all the dry~rotted board pieces
that were originally used to secure each of the uprights
and replaced those.
This hardware cloth is amazingly sturdy!
I was sitting on the completed side opposite
where I was stapling and
not a piece wiggled!
I’m pretty pleased with this project so far
and plan on finishing it up later this week.
I hope to replant after we cool off a bit
and I already brought in
a couple of big bags
of manure and garden soil
as well as
two bags of white rock to
set around each new plant.
I’m thinking of making a second
“box”
to go overtop and around the perimeter
of these new plants
to keep the
rabid foragers
from even having a ghost of a chance
of getting this next garden planting!
beep beep!
So though the Road Runner almost always
got the best of Wiley Coyote…
I’m betting that this Wiley Coyote
will win this time!!!
Happy Wednesday to you all!
Stay tuned to see the new garden over
the next week or so ~
beep beep!
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Happy to have you here!
Will be sharing with ~
Create Link Inspire # 142 ~ The Crafty Blog Stalker
WOW Us Wednesdays #287 ~ Savvy Southern Style
Feathered Nest Friday ~ French Country Cottage
Blessings to you
always,
