Building a fence to keep pe(s)ts out

When Keith and I planned our vegetable garden expansion for this year with new raised garden beds, one of the things on the To Do list was to build a new fence to protect our vegetable garden from pets (our two dogs) and pests (wild bunnies that get into our back/side yard by squeezing and/or digging their way in under the outer backyard fence).  We considered various materials for the fence - chicken wire (ugly), wrought-iron fence (holes too big), pine, etc. - and eventually decided to go with pressure-treated pine to match the backyard fence, but 4 feet high instead of 6 feet.  We would have actually preferred it to be even shorter (3 feet), but the boards came in 4-foot lengths and we didn't want to spend the time/energy to trim a foot off each board.

It's been a slow project due to our limited free time and one too many rainy days so far this spring, but we finally completed the project last weekend.

First, Keith used a post hole digger to dig holes deep enough for fence posts.  I tried to help, but I was no match for the hard clay/rocky soil in our yard. 

We then used a piece of string as a guide to evenly place the fence posts.  It was a bit tricky because this side of the garden is at a slope (as you can clearly see with the raised boxes).  Once the posts were lined up, we filled the holes with concrete mix.

Several hours later (or maybe the next day, I can't remember now), this is how it looked.

 

Now they were ready for the next step.  I think we did this another week or two later.  I know because I can see that sugar snap peas have all fully sprouted in this picture.

Before we put up the fence boards, we laid down chicken wire on the ground (and secured them with landscape fabric pins) so that bunnies can't dig under the fence to get into the garden.  We'll eventually put some soil over it so most (if not all) of it will be hidden under the soil.  Maybe I'll even try to grow some groundcover-type of plants or flowers over it to make it look a bit nicer.  For now, we're satisfied with its functional value.

And here it is, the finished garden fence with a gate in the middle.  We even have a small piece of garden art.

My co-worker Jamie gave this to me last year when she left our project.  It just makes me smile every time I look at it on my way into our new vegetable garden area.

Building New Raised Garden Beds

After getting my vegetable gardening feet wet this year with three 4 ft x 4 ft square foot gardening beds, I decided that an expansion was in order for next year.

This is the south facing side of the house most suitable for a vegetable garden.  The area is shaped like a long trapezoid.  The side where this picture was taken is 18 feet wide and the side with the open gate is 14 feet wide.  The whole area is 53 feet long.  The existing three 4 ft x 4 ft beds are here, but they will be removed at the end of this growing season.  To maximize the space, I decided to build six raised beds measuring 4 ft x 12 ft each, giving me a total of 288 square feet of growing space.

Each raised bed was built with 2 in x 10 in x 12 ft untreated pine boards and lined with several layers of newspaper to prevent weeds from growing in the raised bed.  We decided to go with 10 inch deep beds because the soil in the backyard is really hard clay soil with tons of rocks and gravel left behind by the developer (whom Keith curses every time he has to do any digging in the backyard), topped with lots of weeds.  To make things worse, this area slopes down southward (from right to left in the top picture).  So Keith had to dig a trench all around the three sides of each box to make sure that they could sit level on the ground.  This digging was very difficult with the rock-hard clay soil, and probably the hardest part of this project.

With my needing almost 9 cubic yards of soil to fill six raised beds, I knew there was no way that I would pay the price of Mel's mix - the cost of filling a third of the boxes with vermiculite would be astronomical.  After some calling around, I found a local vendor selling a special planter's mix consisting of mushroom compost, black top soil and bark fines for $34/cubic yard.  When I saw and felt the soil, I was really pleased with its quality - it was dark, rich, full of organic material and felt perfectly moist for planting.

We transported the soil ourselves, 1.5 cubic yard at a time in the back of a pickup truck.  They would also deliver for a fee, but Keith did not want to deal with so much dirt dumped in the driveway all at once, especially since we knew it was going to take us multiple weekends to finish the whole project.  It turned out to be a great decision on Keith's part, because this project is taking us a lot longer to complete than we had initially thought due to weather, digging problems (we had to let the ground soak in water for hours before digging the trenches for leveling each of the boxes), and a few other errands.

Here is a picture of the first box built, leveled and filled (with a shovel, which was also a long process).

Please excuse the mess in this picture - this building process was definitely not a tidy process.  Pictured above are the first four completed raised beds- three on the left side and one on the right side in the far back.  We will probably wait to build and fill the last two beds after this winter, since we still have a few things left growing in the existing 4 ft x 4 ft raised beds.  The new raised beds were placed end-to-end because I wanted to leave as much room as possible near the gate in case we want the space for something else (more raised beds, staging, etc.) later.  To go from one side to the other, I will either have to walk around, which could be a pain in the butt, or just step on the short part of the bed frame to cross over.

These raised beds are for next year, but I just couldn't wait that long to plant something.  So I sowed some seeds for spinach and a few other hardy greens and covered with a row cover.  The row cover was to provide some protection from the impending cold weather, but it's actually been pretty warm since I sowed the seeds a couple of weeks ago, maybe even too warm under the row cover.  I'll have to wait and see if anything grows at all.  I've read that spinach can survive even in snowy weather, but without a cold frame or a strong hoop cover, I don't think it can survive Indiana winter - the row cover I have is not really strong/sturdy enough to withstand the weight of snow or heavy winds.

This is the basic garden map that I'm using to design and plan my new garden (click to enlarge the picture).  Over the next few months, I will slowly figure out where to plant everything next year.  I'm looking forward to a fun winter of planning and replanning the planting of the new garden.

How We Compost - Is It All Wrong?

After reading EG's post about composting this morning, I felt deflated, like we were a textbook case of how NOT to compost.  Is our beginner's composting effort totally doomed?  Please read on and let us know your thoughts.

Since Keith and I decided to start our own vegetable garden, my feelings regarding home composting have evolved from common fear (is our backyard going to stink like a mini landfill?), to cautious intrigue (can we really turn everyday garbage into "black gold"?), and finally to newbie enthusiasm (let's do it!).

I did some online research on how to start backyard composting at home, and learned about "browns" and "greens," also known as carbon and nitrogen sources.  I also read up on oxygen and water requirements for good composting.  We looked at countless pictures of backyard compost bins, checked out a few commercial composters at local garden stores, and eventually made a decision to build our own.

The "building" part was actually really easy.  We bought a food grade 55-gallon plastic barrel with a screw top lid from someone on craigslist for $20.  We then drilled many holes at regular intervals all around the barrel (including top and bottom) for air circulation and drainage.

Next up was the "filling" part.  I didn't really think through this part very well.  I had a vague idea that we would just toss all our kitchen scraps (minus the meats and the fats) in there, mix in some grass clippings and leaves, and we would magically have our compost some months later.  Ha, it didn't actually work out like that.

First problem: 55 gallons is actually a really big space to fill with kitchen scraps from a household of two adults.  Grass clippings added some bulk, but we discovered that they reduce down a lot as they start decomposing.

Second problem: we live in a new-ish subdivision, and we only have one very small tree on our property.  So... no brown leaves for the compost pile.  I told Keith that come fall time, we might have to sneak around the neighborhood at nights with a large trash bag and collect brown leaves from our more established neighbors.  He didn't like that idea so much.

Anyway, our current composting routine goes something like this:

• We keep a small plastic container (big enough to fit a plastic grocery bag inside) in the kitchen for all vegetable and fruit scraps.  I'm anal enough to chop everything into smaller pieces, because I read that small pieces are more accessible for microorganisms during the composting process.  Keith thinks it's funny that I chop things like watermelon rind into bite sized pieces, only to throw them away in the compost.  Hey, if it's worth doing, it's worth doing well.
• We toss in crushed eggshells and used coffee grounds whenever we have them. 
• When the small container gets full, it gets emptied into the compost barrel sitting in the backyard. 
• We add some newspaper (hand-shredded into approximately 1/2 inch wide strips) in the compost barrel as our main carbon source.
• Grass clippings get added to the compost barrel after mowing. 
• Oh, our compost barrel also serves as an earthly gateway to vegetable plant heaven. 
• We spray water inside the compost barrel daily to make sure that it stays sufficient moist (but not too wet) inside. 
• The compost barrel gets rolled around on a weekly basis to ensure proper aeration.

We don't keep track of the volume ratio between browns (newspaper) and greens (kitchen scraps, grass clippings and dead vegetable plants), but we haven't had any issues with bad smells, which I read may be attributed to the way-off brown/green ratio, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that our ratio is at least somewhat acceptable.

So far, things look okay in the compost barrel. Everything is starting to decompose into a dark brown mass without smelling bad.  We don't have a compost thermometer, so we don't know if our compost is heating up to the ideal range of 130F - 150F.  The barrel is still only about a third full, and we keep adding more browns and greens to it, so I guess we can't expect to get any usable compost out of it until at least several months after we get the whole thing full.  I'm starting to realize the limitations of the one bin (or barrel, in our case) composting method.

I also found this fascinating tidbit on wiki: 

People excrete far more plant nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) in urine than in feces.  Human urine can be used directly as fertilizer or it can be put onto compost. Adding a healthy person's urine to compost usually will increase temperatures and therefore increase its ability to destroy pathogens and unwanted seeds.

I asked Keith if he would consider peeing in our compost barrel.  He countered with an offer to add a built-in toilet seat to the compost barrel lid, complete with a step stool for me to climb up to the top.  I think he was kidding.  At least I hope he was.  I may be eager, but I guess I'm not THAT dedicated to composting.  Yet.

Aside from building a new compost pile (the barrel did not work well for EG) and finding a good source of browns for carbon (EG mentioned that paper is not a good choice of browns), do you have any ideas on how we can salvage our composting method?  Does spraying your compost pile with tap water really kill all the good microbes?  It's not so much that I want to doubt EG, I'm just so sad thinking about how we may have been killing all our compost microbes with our daily watering.

The Stylish Indoor Grow Box

Update:
If you would like to see how our plants are growing in our grow box, here they are: Grow Box Updates

* * * * *
Hey everyone, this is Keith.  Usually I'm the "behind the scenes" helper when it comes to this blog but I was asked to do a short write-up on the newest addition to our gardening arsenal, our indoor grow box.

Temperatures here in Indiana (or anywhere else that gets snow) make it a bit difficult to get our gardening “fix” during the winter months. The obvious solution to this is to have some sort of setup indoors that will allow us to grow some plants, and start some seeds during the times when mother nature isn't being cooperative!

However, from looking at pictures around the internet of people's indoor gardening setups, I find most of them to be a little..... ummm...... “rough” looking (no offense to anyone!).   As Minji will no doubt confirm, I tend to be a little (very) picky when it comes to how the inside of the house looks, and a table with a light hanging above it doesn't fit very well into my interior decorating plan. :)


So I set out to build something that would allow us to garden in the winter months, while still making it easy on the eyes. Here's what I came up with...

My perfectly logical drawing of a grow box.

Makes perfect sense, right?  Minji was skeptical though.  I can't imagine why!  Basically, I explained, my goal was to build a grow box inside of an old armoire!  Still skeptical.  "Trust me", I said.  :)

Warning! Long Post!  If you just want pictures of the finished product, skip to the end!

Step One - Get an Armoire!

I searched around on craigslist.com for this until I found one that I thought would fit our requirements.  I was was looking for something that looked fairly nice, and that had multiple shelves (no drawers). I found this one for $50.

Step Two - Prepare for Lighting

My idea was to run lights directly down the center of the armoire so I didn't have to mount a bunch of light socketts on each level.  This involved drilling some holes in the shelves.

The lights I used are 4' fluorescent bulbs (four 6500k "daylight" and two 3000k "warm white" fluorescents), and seeing as how the armoire was taller than 4' inside, I had to build up the top and bottom a bit to fit them correctly.  Luckily, I saved all the circle pieces that I drilled out for just that purpose.  They weren't quite tall enough though, so I cut a few more pieces from some scrap wood I had left over from another project.

I then measured how many I needed and glued them to the top and bottom inside the armoire.  To those, I glued the lamp holders in a hexagon...... ending up with this....

Step Three - Wiring

I used two, three lamp ballasts (for six lights total).  Wiring these to the lamp holders was the most time consuming part of this whole process.  After I wired it, I used electrical tape to neaten it all up and run everything as cleanly as possible.

Next, I mounted the timer I bought to a piece of laminated shelving and used some small "L" brackets to secure it to the bottom of the armoire, in front of the ballasts.

At this point the whole unit looked like this.....

Step Four - Finishing!

Now it was time for the finishing touches!  After putting the light bulbs in we measured the inside temperature while the lights were on.  It was getting up towards 90 degrees so we decided to install an exhaust fan to let some of the heat out.  I drilled out a hole on the back of the unit and installed a simple 120v computer fan.  It now stays between 76-81 degrees in the box at all times.

We then added some aluminum foil to help reflect the light for the plants and put a few test subjects (basil, lettuce seeds, rosemary) in to test it out!

So right now it looks like this.....

And here it is in full operation.....

As the picture above shows, I found it was difficult to take good pictures looking directly at the box because it is so bright and my camera tries to compensate.  Here is one from the side....

Our plants are so bright, you gotta wear shades!

As for materials and cost.....

Item	Cost	Where to buy / Details
Armoire	$50	Craigslist.com
Two GE332-N ballasts	$56	Lowes
Four F32T8 6500k fluorescent bulbs (daylight)	$14	Lowes
Two F32T8 3000k fluorescent bulbs (warm)	$7	Lowes
Two outlet digital timer clock	$17	Lowes
Twelve medium bi-pin lamp holders	$30	Lowes
120v Fan	$25	Radio Shack
Small “L” bracket	$1.75	Lowes
8' Three prong extension cord	$6	Lowes
10' Two Prong extension cord	$6	Lowes
Small white laminate shelf (or scrap wood)	$3	Menards (just for looks)
Two boxes of aluminum foil	$5	Kroger (grocery)
Double sided scotch tape	$3	K-mart
Total	$223.75

So that's it!  We set the timer to come on in the morning at 6am and go off in the evening at 8pm.  And from the outside, you can't tell it's anything but a normal armoire!

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome but being new to gardening I'm sure there are ways to make this thing better.  Anyone have any suggestions?  Do I have to worry about humidity too, or just make sure it doesn't get too high?  I heard humidity is a killer for tomato plants.

Thoughts and suggestions are always appreciated!  Any ideas?

Update:
If you would like to see how our plants are growing in our grow box, here they are: Grow Box Updates