Supply acquired! Clear weather ahead!

 I finally saw an add for what I needed, affordable and local AND had the money to do it. YAY! The weather is clear right now, been spotty clouds all day, wind whipped up an hour ago and blew it all away. That means... weather change and app says, partly cloudy, low 70's with possible drizzles midweek then clear skies and very warm next weekend.

Perfect time for gardening!

This was early morning (for me) was out around 10 and the shadows say it definitely is morning. 

Ditch is in progress here, which a comparison picture will be posted further down. The gopher hole I ran water in yesterday was plugged today. As expected.

 

Just waiting for that cilantro to start blooming, hope butterflies and bees see it. If it were a little later and more out in the open the butterflies in the area would likely flock to it.

The lettuce is doing fine, everything is just chugging along and in about a week I'll likely be pulling/cutting some of the cilantro close to the trellis so the tomato can get more sun. Though at this point the peas are shading it more at this hour but as the sun climbs the cilantro definitely is shading it.

Still deciding what to put in that dirt other than the onions. Need to look up what type of edible plants don't take over the world that tolerates half day shade. That are perennial. About the only thing I can think of is artichoke and believe me...that gets huge but don't think the gophers would like it either.

Another rose blooming and Granada came to mind for a name. I suspect the yellow tone might be more pronounced if it had more sun. I know it's not Chicago Peace because regular Peace absolutely pales in the shade. After searching, Granada seems to be the one. Yay for my rose names still in there!

So this is what I discover when I did my evening garden check. Apparently the 'lemon bush lady' decided to flood the area. The hose was on a trickle and the area was completely soaked. Yet again someone who doesn't understand when they say 'flood the tunnels' and just ran water in the area.

Excavation has begun! I just started piling the dirt up at the back of the bed, then that got too high for my comfort and started a small pile on the flat dirt area. Why am I excavating?

Because I got my poultry fencing!

It pays to be diligent and I came across a local guy, not ten minutes from my house that had a 4'x25' roll for $20. Since I got my SS money yesterday... I messaged him instantly and made arrangements for picking it up around noon today. When I got there he said he also had 'gopher/hardware cloth' that I could have and turned out it was a 100' and 75' roll. I declined saying the 20 was all I could spare and that was way too much for what I needed. Thanked him kindly and we took the roll home. Besides, it's a LOT harder to cut than the poultry fencing.

This bed is actually about 5 feet long and only about 2 feet deep, so that is more than enough for what I need and then some. I'm running the options in my head now of how to lay it out. I could only dig down about ten inches which is fine. I'll have the wire up above the soil a bit and then run the plastic edging along the front for stability. If  I remember it's 6 feet long so perfect for just going along the front and around the corners as well.

What I will be doing is putting the fencing down, tucking it in the corners as much as possible then folding it over and adding another layer so the holes don't overlap then putting a layer of plain dirt down and then use the small pile of dirt and mix that with the two bags of compost, might need more of the dirt but there's enough compost to get it better amended. DOH! Don't want to forget the fertilizer! 

Depending on what's left I'll try and get hold of Layla to offer to dig  her two plots and put down some for her so she can grow in the ground again. No matter how judgy I am, she's still trying to do gardening and was just as disappointed and disgusted as I have been about the gophers.

Every gardener deserves kindness at some point.  We all struggle and if I can help her a bit like someone has helped me then I'm glad to do it. What goes around comes around and gardening in  most ways is easy to pass good karma around.