Thanks! I got it done (...and I'm FEELING IT, too
)
- As seen from the Garden Overlook window after wearily hauling myself upstairs
Like most of my "tasks" in the garden, this has turned into a big project. There was a "knee fence" in front of the espalier orchard row that had become a nuisance because it was impossible to weed along it. Grass roots were entangling in the bottom of the fence and poison ivy had managed to sneak it's way in, making it even harder to do anything around it.
Once I got out there, I decided that the knee fence just *had* to go. It was incredibly difficult to cut through years of sod build up, avoiding the poison ivy, then once sufficiently cleared, removing every bit of it. But once done, I was able to really get in there and weed under the fruit trees, too. I'll put on some compost and mulch them another day.
Last year, I bought a post hole digging bar on recommendation from someone here. I think they use it to plant with, but I found the bar way too heavy for that. But it has been a joy to use for making pilot holes in the ground for bamboo stakes to T-posts -- much quicker than pounding a rebar (which is too thin to be really effective) into the ground with a hand sledge. But with my hard packed clay subsoil, it requires just the right timing: a day or two after good soaking rain is perfect. The ground becomes soft enough to accept the bar, but not too soft that things will keel over.
Even so, the clay prohibits deep holes -- no deeper than 15-18" or so. I had to balance using extra force to get the bar to dig deeper vs. judging if using all my strength to pull the heavy bar out of the clutches of the sucking wet clay was worth the effort it took for the number of holes I had to make.
You might have noticed that the new tunnel is NOT covering the entire Haybale Row. I couldn't get an appropriately sized net fabric by yardage. I ended up with a pre-cut fleece cover 12ft x10ft. I thought about supplementing the length with another fleece cover or maybe the insect tunnel fabric that I'd cut in half last year for the broccoli/cauliflower beds. But it was too difficult to think about how to seal the overlap. I really didn't feel like sewing them together. Luckily, I mixed the varieties up in the row, so it worked out -- more or less. kind of a bummer that the only Red Kuri didn't make it inside the protective tunnel though....
- Updated Haybale Row map
- Due to shortage of fabric, I had to come up with a way to close the ends with minimum waste -- I settled on making holes with the ground staple and making a running stitch with a string with taping the end like shoestring to make it easier to thread through the holes.
- Last peek from the far end before pulling the cover tight and cinching closed
- Stay out, SVBs!! (Bush Delicata and overwintered carrots end)
- Sorry -- you're just going to have to fend for yourselves.... (Kakai, Uncle David's Dessert Pumpkin and Red Kuri end to the right with two volunteer sunflowers)
...It will be good to have some of the vulnerable (
C. pepo and
C. maxima) squash plants outside of the tunnel, actually, because they can be the "control" subjects in this experiment.
By the time I got there, one pale pink berry was completely ruined and another one was slashed. 
)
Japanese Pie
Guatemalan Blue
Red Kuri
Uncle David's Dessert
Kakai
Sugar Baby
One of each 
