Lava Beds and Protection Against Invading Hordes

If you follow us on Twitter or Instagram, you might know that we have a fair amount of deer moving around the property. They graze in our side yard and the copse of snarled pine between ours and the neighboring acreage, they bound over the leaning wire fence that marks our western boundary, down the slope of our eastern claim, and they sleep under our front porch, in the bushes beside the blacktop, beneath the ivy of our walkway, and sometimes even in the driveway up against our cars.

Buckskin tire warmers are an optional feature, but worth it.

As such, there are certain precautions we've had to factor into our life here on the hill, including stomping on the porch before descending the steps, clapping when approaching the front of the house from the backyard, and most definitely fencing in our garden, which meant finishing the garden both practically and aesthetically. Hence the overly-dramatic and slightly-exaggerated post title.

In the last few weeks as the temperature has been climbing, most of our garden - note "most," not all, we'll get to that - has started to thrive, and the allure of all that fresh vegetation has proven too tempting for our woodland friends, who have been spotted nibbling on potato plants and zucchini leaves, and even approaching our intrepid cherry trees, to which Perry responded by rushing out of the house in his sock feet hooting and waving his arms. The deer seemed unimpressed and in no way alarmed, but moseyed on regardless.

So before the plants got any more enticing we pushed our garden plan into overdrive. We'd always known fencing would be needed, but as a permanent solution is pricey, we were hoping to put it off until next season. When that proved naive, we had to improvise. But the first thing we had to do was build the bottom level of the three remaining beds for which we'd allotted space. We don't intend to use them until later in the season or even next year, but we needed them in place before we could move onto phase two, the lava bed.

Our rows are two feet wide all throughout the garden, perfect for pushing a wheelbarrow through or setting down a storage bin while harvesting. Maintaining the green space therein, however, is a pain in the ass. The push mower doesn't get the edges against the cinder blocks, and the cinder blocks being cinder blocks shred any weed-eating line that comes in contact with them while trimming. Our solution was to line the walkways with weed blocker and then cover it all with red lava rocks easily procured from any hardware or home improvement store. After building a wooden frame around the garden - all 80 feet of it - we set about covering the 240 square feet remaining inside. It took a while and a couple pay periods to procure all the supplies, but in the end it came out pretty much how we planned.

All that was left was the fencing itself, which was where the real improvisation took place. In the long run, we're hoping for a wood/wire grid fence around the garden that we can build other fenced spaces against, one for chickens, one for bees, and one for a goat or two. For now, though, we settled for seven-foot garden stakes and simple mesh deer fencing, which we attached to the stakes with zipties. It isn't the strongest or most foolproof fencing around, especially in the high winds we get here in the Columbia Gorge, but so far so good. We even watched from the back porch the other night as a lone doe walked the perimeter but found herself thwarted from stealing the delicious veggies inside. Mission accomplished.

Speaking of the delicious veggies, a lot has happened since our last garden update, both positive and negative. The potatoes are still growing like gangbusters, and in fact the larger of the plants have shown signs of starting to flower, which means we'll probably end up harvesting them a week or so early, owing to the premature and very sunny summer we're having here in Washington. The zucchini continues to grow, as do the carrots and green beans, and even a couple of ginger shoots have pierced the topsoil, but it's the corn that takes this update's spotlight. All the kernels but one have sprouted and are starting their stretch for the sky. The leaves are green and hearty and hopefully the stalks will yield several sweet and yummy ears at the end of the season. And the trio of grape vines - once all but given up for dead - and the pair of nascent cherry trees - cruelly sheared day after day by shrieking winds - have all begun showing signs of vigor, leaves sprouting left and right defiantly, determined to bear fruit. If only everything we were attempting to grow could share their tenacious spirit.

Because alas and alack, there are a few crops not doing so well. In our herb box, only the cilantro has shown itself, and in the same box where the green beans are doing so well, the green leaf lettuce is also failing to thrive, and the jalapenos are just big spicy failures at this point, as we've seen neither stalk nor leaf of them. The lettuce is especially a shame, as that's the product of our garden we use the most, almost daily. The Mesclun that went in alongside the lettuce is growing, though not as it should. We're wondering if perhaps the seeds we sewed were duds, or if they were scavenged by birds. We replanted this weekend, so if it's the seeds, we'll see soon enough. Greenfingers crossed.







And effectively, that ends our garden building for the year. Over the fall we'll finish building the top levels of the last three beds, maybe throw in a winter crop or two, cold-frame a bed for this and that, perhaps, then come early spring we'll finalize our fencing, but for now, we wait and see what a little sun, a little water, and a lot of patience can do.

Garden Update: It's Alive!

It's been two weeks since Planting Day 2015 here on our hill in Lyle, Washington, and in our garden the seeds have taken root and sprouted our first leaves of the season. Every box is showing signs of life, some stronger than others, but all in all it seems we're off to a solid start.

The corn is on the rise, standing a couple inches above the topsoil already. We planted the corn in the box at the northwest corner of the garden. Because of the direction our yard faces - ever-so-slightly northeast - and the slope of our hill, this was the best spot to sew it to ensure it wouldn't spend too much of the day casting shadows over the other crops in its box. There were eight kernels planted, and all eight have sprouted. Provided they survive the summer and the wind up here, and if last year's crop in Portland is any indicator, we can expect 2 or 3 good ears per stalk, roughly a couple dozen all told.

One of those crops we're careful not to overshadow with the corn is the zucchini planted right next to it. We only planted a few seeds this year - last year things got, well, let's just say "out of hand" - and all three are above earth and thriving. Cory loves zucchini, and I, Perry, love Cory so tolerate zucchini. She makes it easy on me by sauteing it in olive oil and butter and dusting it with grated Parmesan. Cheese solves everything. 






In the southeast-most bed where the lettuce-Mesclun mix dominates, it's the green beans that have jumped out to an early lead, with all 12 plants sprouted. We'll thin them down in another couple weeks, trellis them soon after that. The lettuce and Mesclun are showing signs of life, and the jalapenos that sit in the other available quadrant are slow starters but it's still early. The heat hits Lyle at the end of this week - three 90+ days are projected - so we expect that to kick the reticent peppers into overdrive.

Heck, things are growing so good out there, even the three grape vines we planted at the beginning of the season and had all but given up for dead have sprung to life and are each displaying leaves. We're going to give these guys the season to see how they do, but our suspicion is the clay quality of our native soil here on the hill might not be the best for them. Next year's micro-vineyard might have to be in a long and slender raised bed.

But the real star of the garden thus far is without a doubt our potato box. Now granted, the potatoes went in the dirt about a week before the rest of the garden, but despite that they're still leaps and bounds ahead of the other crops. Each of the nine plants is already standing between 3 and 6 inches high, and the idea of all those ripe little white, yellow, and purple potatoes waiting in the dirt has us salivating. Conventional wisdom says potatoes need about 10 weeks before they're ready to harvest, depending on the date of your last frost. Ours was mid-April, so the potatoes went in the first of May, meaning our spuds should be ready around mid-July. Another method some folks use to determine when to harvest is to wait until you see flowers, because it means the plant has shifted its priorities from developing the tuber to developing seeds. We're going with whichever happens first, because that's the shortest path between us and taters.

The cherry trees shorn bald by the wind are still pretty much leafless, but there are fresh chutes all over them, so the roots are at least finding purchase and giving it a go. In another couple of weeks, once the 3 remaining garden boxes are built and the gravel has gone down and the fence has gone up, we'll plant another pair of trees - peach perhaps this time - and see how they fair. Until then we're in a waiting game, waiting and watering and weeding, and hoping the wind doesn't blow it all away.

So that's our garden as of Memorial Day. But that's not all we got up to over the holiday weekend. Check back over the next few days for posts about our most recent Saturday Morning Hike, and the picnic table that nearly broke Perry's back.

Good gardening!