Butterfly Junction

Your husband and you did a great job. I'm impressed that he is using a hand saw...talk about doing it old school!

ralitaco wrote:Your husband and you did a great job. I'm impressed that he is using a hand saw...talk about doing it old school!

LOL! He was just tweaking something. He definitely used the power saw for the big cuts.

A lot of work in progress there, CN.  You will feel pleased when it is being used.

A good job all our efforts are not projects.  We need a rest sometimes.  As my own friends  keep telling me. I need a rest after my own efforts this month even though still lots to do.

Kelejan wrote:A lot of work in progress there, CN.  You will feel pleased when it is being used.

A good job all our efforts are not projects.  We need a rest sometimes.  As my own friends  keep telling me. I need a rest after my own efforts this month even though still lots to do.

I agree. I'm exhausted. When I wake up tired, I know it's time to take a day off, but Hubby may not see it that way.

countrynaturals wrote:

Kelejan wrote:A lot of work in progress there, CN.  You will feel pleased when it is being used.

A good job all our efforts are not projects.  We need a rest sometimes.  As my own friends  keep telling me. I need a rest after my own efforts this month even though still lots to do.

I agree. I'm exhausted. When I wake up tired, I know it's time to take a day off, but Hubby may not see it that way.

Yesterday I wrote how I had finished stage one of moving what seemed a ton of wood chips to prepared beds, and topped up all previously laid areas and finally bagged the last and leaving the driveway clear to park any visitors' cars. Every day since April 7th I had woken at dawn and wanted to get to work straight away.

Today when I woke, even though the sun is shining I am feeling tired.  I have to take the dog to the groomers as I am not sure which end of him  is which. That means two there and back walks and later on it will be in the heat of the day. He is thirteen now and slowing down and neither he nor I function well in the heat. So I will do an hour's pottering, clearing the remainder of the car port just a little at a time.
After a siesta and when the heat lessons I have no doubt I will be revived and ready tomorrow to get the roadside  grass mowed, hopefully before the much-needed rain comes.

I think the body knows when it needs to kick back for a day.

My poor body didn't get to vote. We needed to move the mulch into the new garden before it rains and makes it too heavy to lift over the top in the wheelbarrow, so we had another exhausting day. We got a lot done, however, including getting one side ready to plant. I had asparagus beans, cantaloupe, and a volunteer cuke that didn't want to wait any longer.

Thank goodness it's going to rain all day tomorrow so WE GET THE WHOLE DAY OFF!   

Today was berry day! I got a deal on some raspberry plants and my strawberries came in, so I spent the day planting berries. Hubby surprised me by jumping in and making a berry patch from a metal framework we've had taking up space for 2 years. We put it in front of the redwoods (front yard) where we already had a little grape plant going. He's going to transplant wild blackberries from the redwood grove to fill in the left side and back of the frame. We'll have grapes down the middle and raspberries on the right.

Here's what it looks like from the house. You can barely see it through the trees in the middle of the shot.


Here's the reverse shot, looking back at the house. The raspberries are in front, protected from cats and chickes by that low ornamental fence.


Here's a close-up of the raspberries. They're about 6" high.


Here's another shot of the frame. This one is facing more toward 
the street.


Finally, here's a close-up of the metal frame. I'm not sure how long it will last, but I think it will hold up until the plants are all established. Then we can re-evaluate. Each of these sections is 8' long.

Very nice.

Just curious, what was the metal framework from?

ralitaco wrote:Very nice.

Just curious, what was the metal framework from?

It was part of a donation from Katie's church to the sanctuary. We think it was part of the packaging material from a hot tub. It was just too good to throw away, but we never knew what to do with it. Now it has a new purpose. 

countrynaturals wrote:It was part of a donation from Katie's church to the sanctuary. We think it was part of the packaging material from a hot tub.

A church with a hot tub...now that's interesting

ralitaco wrote:

countrynaturals wrote:It was part of a donation from Katie's church to the sanctuary. We think it was part of the packaging material from a hot tub.

A church with a hot tub...now that's interesting

LOL! I meant a member of Katie's church. 

Nice! Work will pay off deliciously!

Scorpio Rising wrote:Nice!  Work will pay off deliciously!

Yup. Hubby is already calling it "the salad bar." See why?



I knew this garden was coming, so I started everything I could in the house, then on the deck, taking them out on nice days and bringing them in on cold nights. All that work paid off. I already have 3 little cukes on the plants I grew from seed. Here's one of them:


Tomorrow will be a light-duty day for me because Saturday is our daughter's big annual charity event (Love Your Pet Expo 2016). If I wore myself out and couldn't work the show, it would break her heart and I'd never forgive myself.

I like that, the Salad Bar!

Beautiful box!  Congrats on the cukes.  Isn't it exciting see the fruits of your labor come forth?!

Happy Pet Expo!  What a fun thing!

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:Beautiful box!  Congrats on the cukes.  Isn't it exciting see the fruits of your labor come forth?!

Happy Pet Expo!  What a fun thing!

CC

Thank you. Yes, the Expo is fun, but also exhausting. Gardening will be on the back burner for a couple of days.

VERY nice design!

AtlantaMarie wrote:VERY nice design!

Thank you. So far it's everything I hoped for. 

I see where the salad bar reference began....lol

ALMOST FINISHED!   The plant area is complete! We still have to finish the fence, gate, and mulch the paths. Then Hubby is going to make me some matching planter boxes along 2 sides for my large herbs that should be safe from cats and chickens (I hope). Here is what it looks like from the inside right now. Across the middle back will be vine peach and melons -- just starting to sprout.





The left side is melons, cukes, spaghetti squash, peppers, and zuke (behind the peppers - not up yet).



This is the right side -- asparagus beans will climb the ladder. In front of them are strawberries (didn't arrive in very good shape -- still struggling). I think the big plant in the middle is a spaghetti squash. It was a volunteer from the compost bin. In the very front are more melons, to climb over and down into a very sunny spot.


It's been a ton of work, but we're thrilled with it. I have never had a pretty garden before in my life and I've never done well down on the ground. Fingers crossed that getting this one up high will make all the difference.

Suz, babe, you will be completely AMAZED at the production, and just ease of maintaining the thing.

Scorpio Rising wrote:Suz, babe, you will be completely AMAZED at the production, and just ease of maintaining the thing.  

And I LOVE being so close to the plants. I can almost watch that little cuke growing. YEE-HAH! 

Beautiful! Good craftsmanship.

Wow.  That is one fine piece of craftmanship.  Just beautiful.