BEAN CENTRAL HERE WE COME
A very kind friend came over this evening and helped us attach a 100 ft roll of welded steel fence to our new wooden backyard fence. Now all I have to do is clear more of the non-bean plants near the fence base, and wait a few weeks for the soil to warm up sufficiently for tepary beans. I might start some runner beans in the shadier areas so they stay cool longer.
Suspense
Did the tender plants (tomatoes, peppers, ground cherries, potatoes, and runner beans) make it yesterday??? Tuesday night into Wednesday morning it got down to 29F in Norman, apparently a new record low (the previous being 30F in 1918. SEE WHO WEATHERED THE WEATHER!!
Three casualties of a late frost, and all due to poor choices of insulation (which I now know to avoid), are really not bad. I’m pretty pleased.
Another night, another earwig
I put petroleum jelly around the bases of the four test plants. I took pictures of two. I also covered the Brunswick cabbage again with a jar since it got eaten a lot last night when uncovered.
Quick checkup before work
Earwig battle
Several interested earwigs on oil jar edges and a few already in oil! Yay!
Less yay: more earwigs eating the Peruvian ground cherry (which is farthest from the oil).
More yay: big beautiful toad patrolling the backyard prairie.
No more diatomaceous earth, now for oil traps
I talked with a nice county extension agent today who said anything soft-bodied could be hurt by diatomaceous earth (DE) including toads, though being large and hopping they’ll be less so than a slug or earwig. But, I love my toads, so no more DE.
She did however suggest oil traps to reduce their population while I work to make the habitat less absurdly full of rotting wood (thanks past Claire for all the mulch).
These daffodils better be good
When putting in edging yesterday, we dug up and divided a cluster of non blooming daffodils. From reading the daffodil people’s website, either they hate me or need more sun. It took two hours to get them all in.
Corten weathering steel garden edging!
Wow! What a day of work! Many thanks to Wes and Paula we now have a lovely edge to the vegetable garden.
Anti-cat defense fortress air flow adapter
Wes made a holder for one of the fans to attach to the shelf where we hide the tender plants at night from Gram right now on cool nights. Isn’t it nifty?