at the school garden where i help the kids garden
the varmints were winning
big time
they ate all the peas not once but 3 times
they ate all the nice tender carrots as they emerged from the ground
they ate all the lettuce and spinach plants
they left the strawberry plants alone
they ate all the broccoli the kales the cilantro the swiss chard
the parsley
no they didnt eat the rosemary mint lemon balm sage garlic
the herbs seem to be winning the war
so
they ate all the veggies more than once
they were winning the war
so
i went all out to try to keep them out of the garden
so
i dug up every bed
replaced any missing wire barrier to the gophers
you can see their little tunnels through the wire
i guess if any roots pops through
they snag it
ill give them all those they want
as i wrote before
i made cages from pvc that fit each bed
covered it with 1/2 inch hardware cloth
attaching it with zip ties
latches were placed on each side to hold it in place
those dang squirrels actually lift up or dig under the frames
the latches worked
the hardware cloth kept out the little birds and the rest
of the varmint crew
those little birds they would crawl right through the chicken wire
using it as a perch to eat the veggies
are real light
are easily moved around
wont ever rot
so i replanted everything again
using plants and seedings to try to get it back to where the kids
planted theirs
which the varmints all consumed
but
not this time
so after over 3 weeks nothing has happened to the veggies
that were replanted
the kids all approved
squirrels 9 togd 15
rainwater tanks and a large composter
i used my rainwater tank skills to convert the tanks to
usable collectors of water
adding three coats of paint
adding faucets
adding screening to the top holes to keep trash out
and water in
our next project is put in a 200+ gallon rainwater system
to water the school garden
the garden received a $300 grant to pay for it
we have 3 more tanks coming
i will put all them in a series to collect the rain off the
schools roof
we had a compost party
adding sticks and branches
leaves lots of torn up fall leaves
lots of torn up newspapers and cardboard
lots of stuff removed from the garden area
like vines old plants weeds
you name it we chunked it in there
we added some pine cones
some plastic to show how it dont break down
i brought a couple of bags of compost from the community garden
we spread it out over the cardboard
they dug through it looking for things
like
worms
roly polys
beetles
caterpillars
insects
they found them all
they was no squeamishness at all
there were a lot of dirty little hands
but with a lot of smiles on their faces
it makes it worthwhile
hopefully all this stimulates some of them to develop a love
for gardening
i hope so
it makes it all worth it
the organicgreen doctor
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