Round 2 - cool crops

54 degrees

I took a few minutes this afternoon and planted some cabbage and broccoli. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I will have a little time to plant some onions.

It begins!

50 degrees

I have today off and decided last weekend that I have to get my cool weather vegetable in the ground. So, I started off my afternoon getting all 7 of my raised beds cleaned up and prepared for their upcoming plantings. I put my cool weather plantings(lettuce, radishes and cilantro (more to be added soon)) in one of the two small 4' X 4' beds, the other contains strawberries I planted last year. I also laid down part of the weed barrier, that Troy suggested, in between the raised beds until I ran out the ground staples that hold it down. Hopefully I'll get it finished this weekend and get bark laid on it soon.

The strawberry patch is where my war begins. I planted them last year and they produced very few strawberries, which I expected, so I let the birds have them. I now that I think about it, it was my first mistake. If some kinds of birds migrate back to the same nest or even same area for the summer, I'm sure they will also migrate back to the same strawberry patch. Right? So this February, I decided to put up a bird feeder in the front part of our backyard. Hoping, that if I feed the birds they will stay out of my strawberries, mistake number two. As I'm looking out this morning, I see all the intimidating birds (cardinals, blue jays) are feeding at the feeder, the rest are roaming the yard and garden for anything else they can find to eat, I'm sure they will be excited to find strawberries and forget about the feeder completely. I have to get a bird-proof cover built for my strawberries, and soon!

This is only the beginning of my feathered and furry friend problem. There is a rabbit living in my back fenced in garden area, whom I'm sure will like the lettuce I just planted and strawberries too. Also, the squirrel problem, and this is an even bigger problem than the birds and rabbit. Last year, Troy discovered tomatoes that the squirrels dropped in the gutters on our house. I don't even know how to begin my war with the squirrels.

WTF?

19 degrees

Snow. There is nothing more to say.