I am now officially over all this wind and just when I think
it is dry enough to mow the lawn it rains again and turns into a complete bog.
Anymore of this and we will get lost in the jungle that used to be my backyard.
Even the eco mower (aka...Sugar) is at risk of being put on the missing goat
register. It will be nice when it dies down a little and I can get back to
finishing the garden. The bamboo I had started to place around the new garden
has been pulled out and used around the smaller garden because I need to get at
least one garden ready for all the seedlings...the new garden will need a great
deal more bamboo so until I can get enough I decided to use it for the other. That
way at least I can start putting some of the seedlings in that need to be
planted and the above mentioned Eco mower will not terminate them.
I have used the bamboo in an upright position so there is
nothing to climb up on and I wired them together very closely with a galvanised
wire so no snuffly lips can squeeze through it. The wire while still pliable
has good strength to it so I am hoping it will last a fair amount of time.
Surprisingly the two sides I have completed so far are rather strong so with
any luck it will keep Sugar and the chooks out of it. The rolls come as thirty
metre rolls, I used 1-2mm thickness but as long as you can bend it easily and
pull tight with pliers anything else will be fine. The rolls I brought were
between 3-5 dollars each which I think is reasonable but maybe you can source
them cheaper.
I found the easiest way of making the fencing was to push
the poles into the ground closely together, one side at a time...cut a length
of wire approx a metre long and start from there. I used slightly thinner
lengths for the rails and threaded left to right along the bottom rail keeping
the wire taut and the vertical poles straight as I weaved along between the
uprights. At the start it was a hot mess but as you go along you find a pattern
and follow that. Some bamboo isn’t perfectly straight, but once you start the
top rail it sorts itself out...just keep the wire taut, the poles straight and
it will straighten out. I am chuffed with the results of mine...it looks lovely
so far but it does take a lot of bamboo lengths due to the closeness of them.
It is also filtering the harsh wind so the seedlings aren’t exposed to the
brunt of the wind.
Have managed to get two small lots of bamboo in the last
week to add to the bamboo I already had so tomorrow if we get some fine weather
I will go out and finish what I can. Some of the larger pieces I made into
tepees for the purple king and yellow runner beans, one corner has lots of
honey and pearl corn coming up, another I have planted ten sunflowers so far
and will add more once I can wire up the third side of the fence. In another
corner will be the Urenika potatoes in the old compost bin. I don’t expect a
huge amount this year but it will be great to save some for next year.
