… of the rain barrel. I had only one set up and it filled with the first rain, several weeks ago. Today, after many days of intense watering (intense for early Spring, that is), I used the last of it. This was good, as we wanted it lighter so we could move it in order …
Category Archives: garden structures
Compost Bin and Smoker
I like my two Earth Machine composters in that they’re contained and so inaccessible to animals, which makes me unafraid to throw in meat, cheese, bones, etc. They’re also, of course, portable, and not too bad to look at. But for those reasons they’re also a pain to turn, and just the two of them …
Goings On In The Garden
DH and I have been hard at work on our compost bin, based in part on the one from Drumlin Farm, which you see below: More on that soon, once it’s finished (tomorrow?). In the garden I sowed fava (broad) beans, more peas, lettuce, beets, radishes and a quick growing onion. I transplanted out the …
Yes, Of the Same, Again
The garden, that is. DH and I worked on the backyard the entire day: grading it with sifted soil, evening it out, then adding 1 to 2 inches of our composted cow manure. We still have about 1/3 to do, and I’ll try to finish that by my lonesome tomorrow, because DH needs to go …
Sheet Mulching the Herb Bed
The large 4 x 24 foot bed up front will be for the medicinal perennial herbs. (The culinary and the annual ones will go in the herb bed in the back, near the kitchen door.) This bed was started last Spring. First we did some deep tilling (with rototiller), then we installed the boards and …
Designing At Last
We are leaving for NYC tomorrow afternoon and won’t be back until Monday evening. Hopefully with lots more drawings!
Garden Snake and Other Back Yard Tales
While hacking out a stump in one of our “wild” side gardens, we scared this (harmless) garden or garter snake. He, or she, was very defensive, striking out several times and unwilling to leave the spot. So we left. Amie understood: it’s the snake’s garden too. In any case it brought home the importance of …
Stones, Stones, Stones
We had a glorious weekend. After 5 days of noise and dust, the patio is finished. I’ll take a picture of it once the coming rains have washed it clean. The challenge now is to level the surrounding soil and clear it of stones, stones, stones, and to grow grass and plantings around it. I …
Rain Catchment System
Part of our plans for the front garden – the flower garden – is a pond system at the bottom of the hill that will catch the runoff from the hill and from our roof. The pond will be a wildlife pond, its overflow a wetland. The pond will not be for watering our garden …
All I Got Done Was…
1. Topped off the large new bed. 2. Sowed 60 peas (5 kinds) in it (along its entire length next to the fence). 3. Didn’t forget to inoculate them. 4. But forgot to chit them. I figure if I keep the bed wet till germination we’ll be okay. (Okay, this is cheating.) 5. Built frame …