I reported earlier on my afternoon of planting hazelnut and elderberry shrubs, blue vervain and asclepias, and lupine, plus transplanting lemon balm and anise hyssop.
The other task I wanted to complete this past week was to build the vegetable garden, now that the combined compost and loam — with plenty o’ worms! — was delivered and I was able to accumulate enough newspaper and cardboard to complete the project. The weather Thursday was ideal, a high of 68F and mostly sunny, so I got started. Four hours later, I was finished (my lower back was very finished) and the bed — with a depth of at least 4″ of dirt, on top of grass-and-weed-smothering newspaper and cardboard — is ready to plant with any annual flowers, herbs, and veggies that aren’t root veggies or asparagus.
Today my spouse built a fence around the vegetable garden of bamboo poles (found in the garage of this house when we moved in in 2009) and fishing line. We are hoping to deter deer (because).
Below are the chronological photos of my sheet-mulching, starting with cardboard, then newspaper, then a mixture of loam and compost on top of that; plus the hopefully deer-resistant fence and a contraption to keep the “Crimson Passion” dwarf cherry safe from nibblers.
[Reminder: click on photos to enlarge them.]
