Saga of A Hindered But Hopeful Gardener – Post 2 – Gophers
June 30th, 2010
Houston, we have a problem!
Gopher holes… everywhere.
Remember this new gardening area we’ve been setting up…
It’s surrounded!
Completely surrounded by gopher holes.
We were even out there weeding and we heard a gopher rustling in the weeds, literally a foot from our new garden border.
So, after discussing the problem with my wonderful aunts and mother, the gardening experts, we realized what we’re going to have to do…
Raised beds.
Here is a picture of the Pioneer Woman’s raised beds.
Aren’t they lovely?
The Pioneer Woman has a great tutorial on how to make your own raised beds.
I would need this tutorial if I were going to try and build these on my own.
Fortunately, we live with Papa, the master builder.
He could construct a gardening bed blindfolded, with one hand tied behind his back.
“But how are these raised beds going to solve your gopher problem?” you might be asking.
Well…
Thanks to my family of expert gardeners suggestion, we figured out we can line the bottom of the raised beds with this stuff.
It’s called hardware wire.
We will lay it down in the ground at the bottom of our wooden boxes, and then fill the boxes in with our amended soil. This way the gophers wont be able to pull our crops down into their holes, or dig up into our garden from underneath.
My aunts also say using garden boxes helps to keep from trampling upon the areas you’ve planted in order to avoid compacting the soil.
Sounds good to me.
But… now the problem is…
It’s July.
I should have planted my garden months ago, and now we have several weeks of work ahead of us, building boxes with hardware wire in the bottom.
I am bound and DETERMINED to plant something with my kids, NOW!!!
So…
I’ve come up with a Plan B.
We’ve been working hard to clear a new area where the kids and I can plant some things ASAP and hope to yield a crop this Fall. In the meantime we’ll also set to work on our garden boxes, but we probably won’t plant that area until next spring.
I’ll tell you all about our Plan B garden project, next time!!!
And a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has been leaving me such helpful and encouraging comments on my First Garden post and in my Blog Frog discussion on Vegetable Gardens.
If you’re like me and haven’t had much gardening success, you can read my posts to know you’re not alone. But then you should visit the following amazing gardening blogs to learn the tricks and tips of true master gardeners. And these ladies are so extremely kind and helpful!!!
A big thanks to:
Kim @ The Inadvertent Farmer and Kindergardens
Mrs. Farr @ The Farrm
Sara @ Diary of a Northwest Gardener and Garden Question Lady
A big thanks also to the following encouragers and cheerleaders in my determined gardening endeavors:
Conny @ Everything So Random
Anne @ About a Bug
Kirsten @ Sippin’ Lemonade
Simple Girl @ Inspirations by D
Maria @ Close to Home
Tanya @ The Chatty Mom
Marsha @ Marsha’s Spot
Danielle @ Diamond Desire
You have all been so kind, and have offered so many helpful tips.
I’m still Hindered, but thanks to all of you, I’m even more Hopeful!
Stay tuned for my next post on the Plan B gardening project!!!
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I'm a Southern California Mother of three and Wife to a Software Engineer. I've got my hands full like a typical MOM, but the BLESSINGS are worth the CHAOS! I love to LAUGH, I'm committed to being HONEST, I'm trying to IMPROVE, and I hate doing LAUNDRY!!!!!!!!!!
You too?! Well then... Kick off your shoes and make yourself at home!
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I have arrived!! I’m finally a Mrs!!
I have been married for 19 years and yet because of political correctness etc, if the situation does arise people usually say Ms.–YUCK.
I love being Mrs. (But then I’m a bit old fashioned!
Your words of thanks and recognition are such a boost for me –You made my day!
Your plan sounds like a good one, I can’t wait to see what you will plan for this year. the gopher problem does look a bit serious. We have moles to contend with here, but they don’t seem as plentiful as the gophers.
Have fun!
You could always sit out by the holes in a lawn chair with a pitch fork in hand waiting for their tiny heads to pop up… that’s what my dad used to do. HA! I DON’T actually recommend that. I have HORRIBLE nightmares about it thirty some odd years later. Anyhow… found your blog at Talysa’s. I had a lot of fun reading about you and discovering that we have a lot in common. :0)
Good luck with your “farming”….
ACK….oh the little buggers! We have moles here, they don’t eat the plants but in their search for worms they uproot our seedlings! I have done the same thing at the bottom of my raised beds, it really works!
Can’t wait to see your boxes in place…you will be amazed how much easier it is to garden in boxes! Yep raised beds rock…Kim
Don’t forget to add this post to our link party today! Kim
OH NO!! The fates are against you!
I think your raised beds and hardware cloth are a fabulous idea. We have raised beds, and we really like them, although I am beginning to wish they were a little higher (they are only 4 inches right now). Your garden will look so pretty!
Hardware wire? What a great idea! We don’t have gophers but we do have moles. They are more of a problem in the lawn than the garden, but I have two bedding areas I haven’t even planted this year because they are on the side of the back yard’s lawn, and there are mole holes. I think I need to look into this further.