RE: Sunday in the Garden making flower beds
Love the new, nifty garden. The recycled fencing is right up my alley too. Plus it should last, all that cedar. I'm guessing anyway. We look forward to garden updates this summer.
I can surely relate to the vehicle conundrum. So expensive on all fronts, and sometimes a pain, but at other time so VERY handy. I still have a truck from the late 90's, and it seems to get by. Biking all over helps keep it alive. Do you still have the old Volvo Yardmaster 2750 ? Or did you drive it into the pool area and give it a fine burial? Seems I've read someting about an old car in the past in dd posts, but it may just have been an interesting dream. Sometimes they mix a bit.
One last ??, is the fencing/mesh for rabbits or deer, cats, or what other gardeniferous vermin do you have in the area? Sneaky porpi? What a joy to live where you can just sit and watch the sea go in and out and in and out. I would get NOTHING done...
Yes, recycled fencing is a good way of putting it, or 'New England Thrift' both great terms for Cheapskate ;) And this fence was also 'recycled' from my little antique cottage I rent out in Summers. When we moved to Toad Hall I thought, I'll have that there, and it went 2 sections at a time in the back of the old 97 Volvo wagon.
We finally got rid of the old Volvo. Just this year too. I had it towed to our mechanic and begged him to make it 'road worthy' when I knew we had to get a second car and he laughed at me. His young assistant offered me 100 dollars for it as junk, so I took it. But, I used that cart for over 10 years and bought it rather on the 'cheap' even then. That was when we moved back from the city and also needed 2 cars again.
This new Volvo is 4 wheel drive and is a bit 'fancy' for me, but it's used and reliable and I can fill the darn thing with wood and plants and big things for painting/art (as in the Summer I still do some non digital art things and one never knows what one might find in a skip that needs to come home with you )
The mesh for the fencing is to keep rabbits out. It also helps with deer and Turkeys. We have Deer galore out here and most who have Summer veg gardens out here (not many do as most neighbours are only here for two months a year) have a 6 foot fence to keep out the deer. But, we are right on the point of the spit of land, so the deer don't bother us as much because we are more open to the sea, they tend towards the more deeper wooded neighbours. We do get them but none have breached my 4 foot fence yet.
As this new veg garden is an experiment in wind and salt spray considering it's position, it is also going to act a bit as a wind break. In my old veg garden, where some of this fence came from, I had one large wall of six foot fence that faces the sea (thus you couldn't see the sea from the veg garden unless you peered around) it stopped the prevailing wind and was a heat trap, but it was too large (I made it 20 x 45) and I wanted to sit in and look at the sea and my veg. Somethings might not do well, like my toms and cukes and melons might hate the wind, but I am going to plant a 'fruit' hedge around this little garden with cordon apples and pears and some double set soft fruit like blackberries etc to help keep the wind out. We shall see. I shall be sharing more. I need to share more of my chickens and quails as well, but I was too busy sharing art to do that too. :) In Winter I gave more time to posting, now I give less to posting so I can get out and enjoy the day!
And as regards the sea, I love it. I have always loved the sea and water and have attempted to be near, in or on it my entire life. I also use sitting on our beach with coffee, pets, and sketching as a carrot in the Summer. And every day in the Summer (unless raining) on my return from my walk I go straight to our beach and (in my walking clothes) go straight into the sea to cool down and then change into swimming togs and do my morning 'snorkel'. It's good it's private out here, as I must look a right nob sitting in 3 feet of water with my head under for half an hour (with snorkel to breath of course) watching the fish swim in and out of the grass. I love it.
That was a very fun reply. I shall keep this one short, as my pillow is calling out to me this late at night. (Actually not THAT late by Stanley's Steemit Standards). So glad you have a vehicle you can collect the necessities of nature in. That is key for anything I drive. We do the Audubon Bird Count each winter, and one year I found an enormous stainless steel domed machine thing out in the country. It is now, of course, in the back 40. Other birders thought I was nuts. Probably not far off.
Your car story is sad, and funny. Hard to give them up after all the time spent behind the wheel and stuffing things into the boot. My sister had her car stolen (due to the bad ignition thing I wrote to you about awhile back), and when the police found it, they called and said to "come get your car, it's stripped, and has no wheels, and is up on blocks". So she had to pay to have it towed to the tow truck place, and just gave it to him for payment. Sad how those things work out. Cant' you fix it. NO.
I love that you recycle all the wood and other things for use around the house. So thrifty indeed. I am sure gardening is a real chore by the sea, and requires all sorts of adjustments . All the weather and salt and other things lashing about on your lawn. You are truly a pioneering sort of wilderness woman. I can just imagine the scene of you bobbing about in the sea grass. "What IS that woman up to, dear?" "I have NO idea, just let's move along quickly now."