The Fence, Hoop Houses, Kale, Garlic, Pruning, etc…

So the main parts of the fence have finally been completed. Many of you might not have realized that there was still some things that hadn’t been done on the fence. We finally finished weaving the two segments of fencing together, building the angle post extenders, hanging the mono-filament, putting the additional pair of gates up, and barricading the entrances so the dear might find it more difficult to get in.

This leaves us with a couple odds and ends for the fence. Putting taller corner braces in so that the corner posts are not under so much stress, bending so heavily. This will also help tighten up the fence. Getting or designing a slightly more user friendly lock on the gates that will keep the deer from nudging the door open and not require us lifting up two 10 foot long boards, and untying rope to get in. Finding all the gaps between the skirt and the fence and closing them up. Installing the 1″ by 4″ on the gate posts so that the gates sit flush when they are closed. Clean up the edges of the fencing, without cutting back the fencing too far so as to make re-tightening the fence difficult, so that jagged, contorted pieces of fencing aren’t hanging out of the fence,.

Although these things should get done, what I’d really like see done first is finish transplanting the rest of the kale and set small hoop houses (row covers) over the beds, using the design that my father already came up with, (see the two beds closest to the north corner of the garden), then cover them with a water permeable row cover material. George has some insights into this one, perhaps some type of Agribon. Which reminds me, I think George could use some help pruning those apple trees. It’s a great opportunity to learn some things too. He’s a real knowledgeable fellow. Could teach anyone a bit about pruning and a bunch of other stuff as well. It’s a good opportunity to glean some good gardening knowledge as well.

I’ve also been thinking about building a larger scale hoop house. A sturdy structure that could handle some snow. I’ve been reading Eliot Coleman’s The Winter Harvest Handbook and would like to copy some of his designs in there. I think they are extremely elegant–movable hoop houses set up on skis.

There’s a pretty nice series of videos by Daniel Botkin about hoop houses over here at ehow

This weekend, we would like to get another set of beds tilled, soil prepared, and boxes built for in the garden. We’d also like to prepare the soil behind the Panini house. I’ve already started tilling the soil and plan on planting the 900 or so cloves of garlic that my father and I picked up from Ed Fraser’s garlic farm between there and the available spaces in the front garden. We’d also like to transplant and row cover some kale behind the Panini House, and mulch some of the weedy areas over there with leaves, as well as start clearing some of the area on the edge of the rear Panini property boundary and the neighbouring vacant lot.