May 19th Garden Update - Pinwheels Galore!

So after bragging in my last post that I'd figured out how to outsmart the rabbits... the rabbits proved me wrong. Dang it.

They chomped my precious cabbages.

How dare they?!

We'd had a lot of rain, so I guess the Liquid Fence washed away.

I Googled like crazy looking for other rabbit repellent ideas. Best bets seemed to be slices of Ivory Soap left in dishes around the garden , and pinwheels.

The night after the attack I used both, plus sprayed Liquid Fence everywhere. Since then I've been relying on just the pinwheels. I felt weird about chunks of soap possibly getting into the soil, and was getting tired of spraying Liquid Fence every day (plus after the bunnies went to town didn't completely trust it!).

 

They're working so far! The above pic was taken a little more than a week ago. I just took another today, and if I'm not mistaken the cabbages are growing!

A little bigger; Right?

 So yay! There might be hope for the cabbages yet!

Also  - the peas and beets are coming up!

Peas

Beets and onions

Close up of the beet seedlings - just because!

I've gotta say, this is the best luck I've had with beets germinating, like ever. I've been watering them twice a day, and didn't add compost to my soil this year. Time will tell if I actually get a decent beet harvest, but so far they're looking good!

I also added pinwheels near the peas and beets. Can't be too careful! 

Moving on... I tried something new with my carrots this year. I'd read that putting cardboard over your watered carrot bed helps germination. It holds in moisture.

Cardboard over the carrots

I didn't really follow through with it though. You're supposed to check every day or  two and take the covering off at the first sign of life, but we got more rain and I ended up just getting rid of the cardboard and making sure the carrots were well watered.

And today... we have carrot sproutage!

Yay for tiny little carrot seedlings!

Finally, I'm kind of excited because our town's DPW was offering discounted compost bins for residents. Yeah. I think getting excited over that (plus liberal use of pinwheels) may mean I'm turning into a crazy old lady.

Anyhoo,  The Earth Machine usually retails at over $100, and I snagged it for $42. Woot. I thought it might be a tumbler, but it's just a bin. Seems like a nice one though and it gets great reviews. So I'm finally composting! I'm sure this'll be life changing.

Pre-teens make great compost.