Jay, what kind of lumber did you use for the sides?
Brag Board
That's really nice.
After agonizing and pondering over many cups of tea, I finally decided to go with untreated lumber. For one, I've become a little cynical over reassurances that go something like "Trust us, it's safe" with rgards either treated or recycled plastic, and secondly this isn't supposed to be the tunnel's final site... I've actually erected it on the pad where the donkey barn is supposed to get built. I've got to get a grader in here to level another pad (I'm on a slope), and it's harder than gettin' money outa the bank to get the one good operator out here for such a small job.
I figure it'll rot in a couple-three years, just keeping the fire under me to get the tunnel moved. And it's a whole lot cheaper using untreated wood!
Very nice! I want raised beds one day, then I want to till it all under the next and just build from there...can't make up my mind. I like the hardware cloth idea very much. Good job!
I have both... raised beds are more work to set up, and they do dry out around here, but for gopher proofing, they can't be beat. So things like beans, corn and summer squash go directly in the ground. Last year we found out just how much gophers like beets/chard (they'll tunnel right past the lettuce to get to 'em) and in a previous year we found out they like garlic (ate every bit of it over the winter), so we've added this one to the smaller one we already had.
This year the plan is to grow potatoes in straw, and I'm going to lay down hardware cloth before we build our straw pile. 'Cause I've heard that gophers love potatoes, too. Dang, they have good taste!
I also trap, but I'm not waiting for one to get by me.
I thought they looked untreated. It sure is a great idea to keep the critters out.
Yes untreated,not unlike myself.No need for frivolity.No need for beggars,banquets,nor niceties,Just hard work good people and great times.Just a cold one,Warm people and great times.No need for more get in get right.Hard work is the nectar of the gods.So sit down Get down and relax.Do your bit =====Mother Nature will take it from there.Cant sweat the small stuff.
Your reasoning is sound and sensible Jay. But it always is. :) It's easy to tell you think a lot before you start a project. Will you have walls around your straw piles?
Update... our potato patch never happened... farmer failure. %-) Just too many things to do, and somehow the seed potatoes got buried under a bunch of stuff & kept getting put on the tomorrow list, till they were shriveled & soft... so I just stuck 'em under the edge of the compost pile & kissed 'em up to god. Something grew in spite of all my efforts... which I think the gophers enjoyed enormously; there were certainly plenty of tunnels around. So here's our crop this year....
Mmmm, looks delicious!
Little butter, little sour cream, fix it right up. LOL
Had to laugh, I grew a few of those myself -- dug 'em up, cooked them, and ate them. Made about one serving. LOL
Oh, flaunt your wealth... a FEW! Dangme, that's our entire crop right there.
The New Mexico potato famine...
LOL
my spuds didn't do much either this year. got lots of em but very very tiny not worth much
my whole garden was a bust this year. went all to weeds :(
had to much to do and not enough time.
next year will be so different. ! i will win the weed war !! " God as my witness i shall never let another weed grow. " hands raised in the air . LOL
Alleluyah Sister!! Sing it...
Be the change!
LOL
Good luck with that!
Ooo, a non-believer! You're gonna get tomato blight for that one.
LOL
Porkpal, LOL! My thoughts exactly. But you gotta give her credit for going to battle.
Taynors, so good to see you here! And I hate to burst your bubble, but there's always too much to do and never enough time.
Aw, com'on, let her dream... we all need a dream...
Something more attainable than world peace.
LOL
Aw, shucks...okay. Taynors we'll be here to cheer you on as you get them weeds whipped under control.
So what's your winter fantasy, Robin?
Mine is that everything will get planted on time & the flippin' weather will cooperate.
Mine is that somehow I'm going to have more time and finally rebuild the overhang on the east side of the barn - after, of course, I clear up the tomato blight.
Winter fantasy? Dang, I haven't even finished wrapping up the summer yet. But I guess mine is a lot like yours. Hope the weather cooperates enough, so that I can clean up the garden and have it ready to plant early. Got a lot of work ahead of me... I haven't even started on the cleanup yet.
Not that I want to jinx this or anything (knocking on wood), but other than a sporadic night of a little frost, we are having great weather. Highs in the 70's and 80's, with lows in the 40's and a couple of low 50's in the next few nights. If the tunnels hold up over the winter, I'll be able to start lots of things early in the spring. Curious to see how long I can keep the tunnel-covered peppers, tomatoes and eggplants going this fall..
Roflmao we all need a little Scarlet O Hara in us with a dream.lol
Hey Robin goo to see you.
jay glad you got this thread going again
Well I have 15lbs of garlic to plant and no frost? Hmmm
Guess I better get busy making chocolate rum fruit cake for Jay? LoL. Cant wait to sink teeth in that yummy rummy cake
Oh, thanks Tay, but I didn't get it going again... it's been going by the efforts of others all summer. I just haven't been here. I still haven't caught up on several threads... busy folks that we all are. =0)
Yeah, I've got to do something about my garlic situation... never did get to digging it up this summer, so now the wrappers are gone. Guess I'll just replant the bigger cloves & do store bought this winter. =0(
Got the jalapeno jelly done yesterday... soft set, but good enough. Oof, what a lot of work, de-ribbing & mincing all those peppers.
You need to buy some Pomona's Pectin.
http://www.pomonapectin.com/
No, I just needed to cook it longer.
Taynors, you got that right! Mine wore me out, but I loved every minute of it. Had wonderful customers and that made it all worthwhile.
I've got garlic to plant... I just don't have garlic to eat. I am very, very sad.
BUT... next year will be different! (yeah, sure) And at least I didn't loose this heirloom garlic... it does great up here. Tried another one & it bought it.
My garlic did get a soggy and mushy. SOme had bugs ewww. So i sorted through it and roasted it , then froze it. MMMM . sorry Jay can't send you frozen roasted garlic :) i will make sure i put in an extra peice of Chocolate fruit cake for you's.
msrobin are you selling plants ? what is your business
i think you told me but i fergeted. :(
roasted then frozen, eh? Might try that w/what I can salvage... sure can't store it.
You can store whole, peeled garlic cloves covered with some sherry in a covered jar in the refrigerator.
I have a bag full to do something with soon. It's all the small inner cloves I didn't want to waste my time planting. I may roast some and jar with some olive oil covering them, but freezing sounds like an option. Thanks, Sue.
'Nother crop failure.. basil. Well, I just flat neglected it. Did manage to dig up a couple that survived & bring them in yesterday, so maybe I'll manage a crop yet. LOL
Darius, tried to post to your blog... don't know if it made it. But I was wondering if the traditional winter moccasin of the Native Americans might allow some of the benefits of 'earthing' through the winter?
Yeah, I saw it, approved and added. (Have to do that, too many sexually explicit comments were trying to post.)
I had thought of that too. Answer is no; leather is insulative. However, I remembered that when I worked in the OR, our shoes had to be grounded because of anesthesia gasses used back then. That was accomplished by a copper rivet/grommet punched through the sole, touching the ball of the foot. Some of the English surgeons visiting had special rubber boots with a composite copper/rubber sole that worked, but they were quite expensive.
Ah, I did wonder if it needed approval. Posted as anonymous 'cause I couldn't remember how I'd registered. LOL