Lots of work going outside – taking advantage of the nice weather.
In preparation for the new 4 x 20 foot box in the front yard, I have been removing sod from the front yard. I'm removing a row one foot wide by 20 feet long everyday – and I started Monday. So I just completed my fourth row today. The goal is to have two feet between the two boxes and then the new box of four feet wide – so this is why it is six feet wide total.
The rain barrels have some water in them – and there are no leaks! So the rain barrel project is done. Soon I'll need to start laying the PVC pipe through the garden to get this prepared.
The grape vines are budding very nicely – along with the Granny Smith apple tree. Last week I put some deer netting around the tree to keep the deer away. But, I need to prune some of the grape vines and remove some canes that will not be used.
As I was walking in the house today after removing sod, I looked down at the bed beside the house – and oh my – weeds are growing all over! It looks like this will be another thing to add on my list – de-weeding!
Some kind of animal is on the carrot bed that sits on the back driveway. There are all kinds of tracks all over it.
So there are quite a few things to do. I will have the two more rows of sod removed on Saturday and hopefully get the box built on Saturday. The weather on Saturday is to plummet down into the 40's and temperatures overnight will return to being under freezing.
After the box is made, I'll then have to decide what to put down for the walkway between the two boxes. Pea gravel would be nice, but since it is in the front yard, this would be very hard to remove if the house is sold and new owners don't want it.
I'll then need to start hauling dirt from the local compost facility to fill the box – and also fill the area behind the garage where the new retaining wall is!
As an update for the seedlings – I have nine out of 16 broccoli that have sprouted so far – and I only need eight so I'm in good shape. None of the tomatoes or peppers have come up as of yet. The peppers are on a heat mat but the tomatoes are just under the fluorescent lights.
About 15 of the 26 onions I planted have also germinated from this patch batch. Unfortunately, I am continuing to lose onions on a weekly basis. I attribute this to damping off disease; the top of the squares has a lot of white coloring and several places have fuzz growing. I guess this is a very good reason NOT to use garden soil to plant seedlings. Last year I used garden soil and didn't have any problems. This year it is a different story.