Had My First Garden Catastrophe

yolos.. not sure how I missed your post, but I did. Excellent advice on the strips of wood. My husband is going to work on all the little gap areas this weekend. I will definitely pass along your advice.

plantoid.. how very correct you are! I have learned several things from this experience and all future beds will definitely benefit because of it.

rabbithutch.. I would have wept with joy had my raised bed been turned into a tabletop before my eyes while I was bending over for hours today. My back is still aching!! Thank you for your words about the storms and you are absolutely right. I can practically look out my front door and still see the aftermath of our 04/27/2011 tornado. It's devastating, horrifying and takes years to recover from. Just horrible.

Marc.. Absolutely! I'm not sure yet which method will be used on "enclosing" future beds, but something will definitely be implemented! No doubts there at all!

Cathy

catbranch, I did not know you had been through that 2011 tornado.  I should imagine having been through one you dread it happening again.  We hear about tornados, floods, earthquakes, mudslides etc as they happen, but seldom ever hear about followups, how people recover, if ever. They are in the news for a few days or weeks, then fade as they are taken over by the latest tragedy. That is the curse of 24/7 instanly available news.  It is hard to remember that for most of history everyone only knew what happened in their own little area. I think that now we have a built-in anxiety factor because we know what everyone in the world is suffering.

Cat, what we did was staple newspaper & corrugated cardboard boxes between 2 layers of weed fabric.  Then we nailed it onto the bottom of the planter boxes w/ galvanized nails (so they'll last longer).

Since my boxes are only 2' wide, I didn't have to do a lot of cutting on the weed cloth.  Just the ends.  (These next boxes will be 4' wide, so it'll be 2 full-width layers.)









So far it seems to be working.  But, again, I had to shove some dirt under boxes that weren't balanced all the way around.

Kelejan wrote:catbranch, I did not know you had been through that 2011 tornado.  I should imagine having been through one you dread it happening again.  We hear about tornados, floods, earthquakes, mudslides etc as they happen, but seldom ever hear about followups, how people recover, if ever. They are in the news for a few days or weeks, then fade as they are taken over by the latest tragedy. That is the curse of 24/7 instanly available news.  It is hard to remember that for most of history everyone only knew what happened in their own little area. I think that now we have a built-in anxiety factor because we know what everyone in the world is suffering.

That's the worst thing about the news. There's never any follow-up. So you never get a chance to put stories in context or to develop and follow through on a story or an abiding interest. All you get is the surface sensationalism and yer outta there, without a clue but still under the impression you learned something. Turning to the news for much of anything leaves us floating in a permanent present with no sense of history or the future.

Marc Iverson wrote:That's the worst thing about the news. There's never any follow-up. So you never get a chance to put stories in context or to develop and follow through on a story or an abiding interest. All you get is the surface sensationalism and yer outta there, without a clue but still under the impression you learned something. Turning to the news for much of anything leaves us floating in a permanent present with no sense of history or the future.

I've thought a lot about that lately while trying to put current events into some kind of perspective.  I offer this for comment and to encourage you to share your thoughts.

I'm about to be 72 years old.  My dad was born in the 1890s; my mom, just after the turn of the century.  All 3 of my grandparents were born before the US Civil War; the other in the late 1870's.  I only knew 2 of my grandparents, and that was before I reached my 5th birthday; but I knew countless people who were born long before the automobile, airplane, radio, telephone . . .   to say nothing of TV and now the Internet and email.  I am convinced that my grandparents would have thought that cell phones with cameras that take instant, high quality pictures that can be sent around the world in mere seconds were the work of the devil.

The church bell and city hall bells were the communications devices that had the greatest immediate range to inform an area.  The mail was available but incredibly slow by our standards.  In the area of the Appalachians that my dad's family lived in the 19th Century, even the mail was not always reliable.  Horses, mules, ox carts, and shanks mare over what we would scarcely believe could be called roads were the means of transport.  Even that was mostly for shipping produce out and hard goods in.  Trips of great distance were not uncommon, but they took exceedingly long times to complete.  From their area, it was a considerable trip just to reach a rail head in those days.

The principle means of communications was conversation with family, friends, neighbors, church congregations, and strangers traveling through or to their area on business.  It was an era when courtesy was not just 'nice' but an essential ingredient in interpersonal relationships.  Any in the community who were not courteous were thought to hold a low opinion of themselves and, by inference, could therefore hold no good opinion about anyone else.  (I cannot recount the number of times I was told that by people who came to adulthood in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.)

Strangers - if courteous and not slovenly - were, perhaps, the most welcome of all guests because they brought news of outside happenings and conditions.  Plus, in those days the art of storytelling, reciting verse, public readings, and singing were far more advanced than is the case today.  Those lost things are much lamented by anyone who has any experience of them.

Another factor of that period - removed from me by just a single generation, that of my parents - is that populations were relatively unchanged over many years.  Today, I think the statistic is that one in five families will relocate over a hundred miles every 5 years.  That was not impossible, as the western migration proves, but it happened much more slowly and for greatly different reasons.  Those migrations were usually in groups, of people sharing the same social values and ethics.

So . . .   to sit here typing on an electronic device and communicating to people all over the world on a daily basis is an activity that could scarcely be comprehended by my grandparents and most of the people among whom I grew up.  I shall always wonder what my great-grandparents would have thought of electric lights almost overwhelming the darkness of night.  My comprehension of their world is much easier, but still not complete by any means.

I often wonder which is better, but then I reflect on the many great advances in  technology, education, and communication that bring enrichment to daily life.  But I also look fondly at the greater connection with community and the value of story telling and verse and regret their passing.

rabbithutch,

I've been doing a lot of genealogy research lately regarding my great-grandparents and beyond and their move from Ireland to the United States. I would give anything to have my grandmother back and pay better attention to the many stories she told me about her life and her parents' lives. I do have some old diaries and letters that belonged to my great-grandmother and the differences between then and now are just astounding to me.  

I don't know why the differences shock me so much, because I see the same type of differences just between my younger years and my children's. Now you call your kids on a cell phone or text them to let them know it's time to come home; whereas, when I was young you knew to go in when the street lights came on or my mom would just yell from the porch or I listened for the distinct tone and sound of my father's whistle, which was easily discernible from that of my friends' father's whistle. Same for them. To this day, I can hear my dad's whistle and know to turn looking for him, knowing that he is in the crowd and trying to get my attention.

I think there is much to be said for modern technology and would have a hard time living without it now that I have it, but I do sorely miss the simplicity of life from when I was younger and the natural bonding that comes from face to face correspondences. I regret that my children will never know some of the carefree pleasures that go hand in hand with a simpler time.

Rabbithutch, I truly LOVED reading about your memories of the past. It was a beautiful glimpse inside your mind and a pleasure to read. Thank you.

Cathy

RH, Eloquent.

Cathy, I wish I had talked and listened to my maternal grandmother more. I inherited letters and documents that my Mother had saved from GM's hope chest. I've read some and must read all the rest.