Caution!: New fence and gate

The title might seem a little dramatic, but I really do encourage caution when approaching the garden. I have put up the first row of fishing line on the outer fence around the garden. The fishing line is very difficult to see until you get very close. The idea is that deer will bump into the fishing line and feel nervous about jumping over. There is also an inner fence with a visible row of twine which creates an optical problem for deer trying to figure out how far to jump. There were lots of deer prints visible last night, so I'm glad to get the fence started.

The only safe way to access the garden is the new gate which is on the the west end of the garden. It is really the old gate that provided access to the pea patch. The right side is a metal fence post and the left side is a wooden post that is attached with two pieces of twine to another metal fence post. To access the garden, simply untie the twine and lay the gate down.

Of course, it is very important to put the gate back up when you are finished. Just use a knot that is easy to untie for the next person. In this case below, I just used a bow knot.

As a bonus, here is a look at the new black plastic to keep the weeds off of the ends of the rows. While no one donated any new straw, I found an old mound of straw and borrowed some to create a little traction for walking on it. There is still a lot of mulching to do, but I'll save that for another post.

Stage 2: Watering System Installed - Volunteers Needed

Update: The work night has been rescheduled for Thursday, 20 May from 6 to 7 pm.

Rain brothers finished up the installation of the new watering system on Monday and the Harlem Township Fire Department has already filled up our 550-gallon tank.

That means we are almost ready to go. We need a few volunteers to help stretch out the lines and get the kinks out of the hose. We will then open up access to the garden for families and individuals.

We'll meet this Monday, 17 May at 6:30 pm at Church of the Saviour. Please send me an e-mail so I can make sure we have enough people. The work should only take a short time.

Also, we're planning the community planting for Saturday, 22 May at 9am. Everyone is welcome to come and plant the garden. Bring any tools you'd like. Additional donations of seeds and plants are welcome, too.

With all the rain, our raspberry bushes have really taken off and we should have a great harvest this summer.

Summer project: storage shed

Just got the word that we will be putting up a storage shed this summer. Church of the Saviour was given permission to reclaim some unused materials from a baseball diamond in the area. The backstop has already been moved and will be used to set up a new diamond on the church grounds. There is also a concession stand that will be moved to our property. It needs some work (a new floor in particular), but it will provide us with some much needed storage. We'll be looking for volunteers soon to help move and renovate the shed.

First Look: New Watering System

The folks from Rain Brothers came out today and set up our new water tank.


This 550-gallon tank is made in Ohio and will be filled up for us by the Harlem Township Fire Department.


They also got a start on laying down the soaker tape, but they'll have to finish up later in the week. Since the tank is slightly uphill from the garden, the water system will work on gravity alone.


Once it is set up, we'll be able to test it out. When everything is ready to go, we'll open up planting to our individual planters.

In the long term, we'll hook up the tank to the gutters on the church to collect the rain water. With a small pump we'll be able to move the water to the entire garden--a big improvement over last year. Water was a major limitation for us last year. With the new system we'll be able to plant the entire plot this year, greatly increasing our harvest over our first year.