We Have Potato Sprouts!

If you look closely at this picture right in the center you'll see a bit of purple. Those are the first signs of the All Blue potatoes peeking out. The other two potatoes haven't appeared yet, but we have high hopes that they will follow in the blue siblings footsteps..

Keeping Snails, Slugs and Other Slimy Creatures Out of the Garden.

This is an idea that we got from Mother Earth News. Buy 80 grit Drywall Sandpaper at your local hardware store. It comes in 4"x11 sheets. Cut the sheets in 1/2 lengthwise (which we discovered is easy to do if you just fold a sheet.) Staplegun the strips of sandpaper to the top edge of the bed. Use stainless staples (if you can find them). Overlap the sheets and don't leave any gaps. We bought a package of 25 for 4-4x4 beds. Snails and slugs won't crawl over the sandpaper to get to the green goodness growing in the beds. The application of sandpaper should last for a couple of years.





We have also been using crushed egg shells to prevent slugs and snails, although they don't last quite as long. However, they decompuse and add extra nutrients to the soil. So, save your eff shells, wash them out, microwave them for about a minute to kill the bacteria, then crush them up and sprinkle around the edges of your raised bed.


Finally, our new fence/gate is done! (Well, it's built, but not painted yet). It is so nice to have an operable fence once again! One weekend soon, we're going to have to paint it though. My neighbor, Jayna, took the old wood and is going to use it for some beds in her yard, so we had virtually no trash from this project.


Next up - the new compost pile, making compose tea and trying worms again.