After never-ending weeks of outrageous heat and humidity, Mother Nature has finally given us a respite. Temperatures for the last week or so have not risen above the mid-eighties, and this weekend in particular the humidity has been low. Today in particular was absolutely lovely and we took advantage, spending lots of time outside in the garden.
Nick tackled multiple outdoor projects this weekend and is doing an impressive job of them. A while ago, we'd discussed creating a formal framework for an outdoor compost pile. I found several examples online where people had recycled wooden pallets to make mulch bins, and we thought it looked pretty nifty. Then the whole thing fell by the wayside for a while, and we simply made a pile outside of various green things that didn't fit into our
uber-composter. However, our pup is now recovering nicely from his back and neck injuries, and has been spending time in the backyard. He inevitably heads straight for the compost pile and pulls out a discarded zucchini or tomato plant, trotting around the backyard delighted with his newfound prize. This necessitated urgency on our part with regards to actually
building the bins.
Luckily for us, Nick found an advertisement for free pallets on Craigslist for folks willing to come pick them up. The address turned out to be a property about twenty minutes away, in serious horse and wine country. We ended up at a beautiful estate: lovely home, multiple horse barns, a show ring (with grandstand!), and several other turnout rings. It was beyond gorgeous. It also had a few dozen pallets stacked up, free for the taking! My car proved itself once again with regards to carrying capacity, as we filled it up for two trips and collected seven pallets in all. This afternoon Nick brought them down into the backyard and assembled them into what I must say looks like a pretty neat composting setup! The plan is to fill one bin, and then while it composts itself fill the other; by the time the second is filled the first should be reduced to compost, which we would then empty out and use.
Pretty cool, no? His other big project this weekend involved protecting our precious tomato plants. The squirrels have upgraded from raiding the bird feeder to tomatonapping. The furry little monsters are scaling the 6-foot deer fence into the garden, stealing tomatoes (mostly the cherry tomatoes but they're not really picky), taking a bite or two, and then deciding they don't really like tomatoes and throw them on to the ground. However, they are not bright enough to
remember that they don't like tomatoes, so then they do it again. And again. We lost close to two dozen tomatoes over the course of the last five days and were pretty much besides ourselves. I tried giving them their own feeder across the yard from the tomatoes: they just started eating sunflower seeds
and tomatoes. Cayenne in the bird feeder didn't dissuade them, so spraying the tomatoes with spicy liquids probably won't work either. Instead, Nick covered the large tomato plants with protective plastic mesh, which they can technically chew through but we're hoping they won't bother. They sit atop the plants now and still molest the tomatoes, but they can't actually grab the big ones anymore. In the 48 hours since he's put the mesh up we have lost far fewer fruits, so here's hoping.
My inventive husband is also in the process of building an upgraded hoop house for the smaller, younger tomato plants in an adjacent bed. They aren't fruiting yet but the squirrels actually chewed right through an entire plant stem, so clearly some protection is in order. Nick bought some flexible PVC, some clear PVC roofing material, and heavy-duty plastic sheeting. It's not yet finished, but it looks really good! The picture on the right is with only one sidewall up, of course. Once it's done, not only should it be squirrel-proof but it will be winterized for cold weather gardening, which is extra-exciting.
As for me, this weekend I've been a-painting. We decided on a lovely soft grey (Wickham Gray) that Nick picked out for the hallway and dining room, so yesterday evening I cleaned the hallway walls, taped off the molding, and went to work! I don't have an "after" picture to put up but suffice to say we both really love the color. Plus, having the walls be something other than the off-white that they were makes the crown molding and baseboard stand out nicely. It adds class, and heaven knows we could use some of that. I did discover, however, that taking the thermostat off the wall to paint (thereby disabling said thermostat) when it is 75+ degrees in the house, and then taping off and painting around five door frames makes for a hot and sticky evening. Oh well. I have not painted the dining room yet; perhaps next month? It will necessitate another can of paint so I am putting it off for now.
The new hallway & dining room color. Nick picked a winner!
So my determined husband took matters into his own hands and built a tomato cage. A gigantic box of wood and chicken wire designed to keep even the most pesky squirrel out. It's built in sections; on the long sides the top sections are hinged for access, and on the short sides the bottom sections are hinged. Makes harvesting a bit tricky, especially since the far side is very close to the garden fence, but it's working! The tomatoes are making a comeback....only to be sucked on by stinkbugs. But those are much easier to kill, and thankfully Home Depot sells stinkbug traps that actually work.
So what are we going with these newly-salvaged tomatoes, you ask? How about pasta sauce? Yesterday Nick and I picked about five pounds of tomatoes (see photo); this sounds like a lot, but when you're cooking them down, it's not much. Most recipes call for 30 to 60 pounds of tomatoes. We found a recipe calling for 25 and decided to halve it, so we supplemented our tomatoes with eight pounds more from the farm market.
