Monday, June 14, 2010

Rain, Sweat and Tears

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I'm straining to write this (or should I say type this). My hands are still raw, stiff, callused, and torn-up from unrolling, cutting and attaching over 230 ft of chicken wire to my garden fence. I didn't realize this would be such a painful job (literally and figuratively). And did I mention it rained all weekend? Working with wet gardening gloves on is never fun. Needless to say, I won't be doing any hand-modeling anytime soon.

The good news is, I think I did a pretty good job of it. The rabbits (especially the baby ones) were getting mighty daring these days. I had to actually shoo them away as I worked on the fence. Obviously, I don't look scary enough. The funny part was watching them for hours trying to find a weakness in the reinforced fence. I watched a baby bunny do a complete circle around my garden, trying to push itself through the mesh every couple of feet or so. I had to laugh at their persistence. The word was out apparently and I guess they can appreciate a good thing when they see it. What's tastier...weeds or carrot tops?

And since it rained, I thought I'd take some wet photos. Enjoy!

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Beet Greens

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Kale Leaf

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Celery Leaves with Small Bug

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Pea Tendril

24 comments:

  1. Ouch! The fence looks great though and it sounds like you already had the bunny seal of "disproval"! I have noticed a lot of bunnies this spring in our area too. We have had one on our front lawn in the dawn/dusk timeframe for several weeks now and so far he is staying in that area and out of the fenced back yard which is where the garden is. I have seen a rabbit in one of our neighbor's yard almost every evening when I am driving home from work too...so our bunny population appears to be up at the moment. I am content to have them around so long as they stay out of the garden proper!

    The rain soaked garden pics are beautiful (as always!).

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  2. Congratulations, Thomas, on the job! Your hardwork wouldn't be wasted now and hope those babies don't find a way in at all.
    Wonderful shots of the raindrops!

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  3. Great job on the fence! Hope it holds & keeps those voracious bunnies out of the garden.

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  4. That's a lot of chicken wire! It's horrible to work with....but it should keep those bunnies out!

    Beautiful photos!!

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  5. Great job. We need to do exactly that! But not sure when we can find the time. For now I have netted the tender stuff in hopes bunnies will get distracted. Your plants look so refreshed after the rain.

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  6. oh thomas, your photos really are gorgeous!

    our little fox has shown up every day this week. I told him that you invited him over, but that it's quite a long walk to your neighborhood...

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  7. Wow! It all looks beautiful. I love the rain pictures. Good luck with the fence.

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  8. those are beautiful photos! That chicken wire is a pain, that's what I made potato cages out of last year and I won't do it again LOL! Have you ever watched "Billy the Exterminator" on A&E? He wears a scary halloween mask while exterminating bees, maybe you should don one out there to look a bit more imposing to those bunnies! Glad it's working for you.

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  9. ooooh I should have said exterminating wasps... he doesn't kill bees!

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  10. Oh, I feel your pain! Chicken wire is such a hassle to work with, but since I've put mine up the bunnies have stayed out. Hopefully your cute little fuzzy pests will stay out for good!

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  11. The dreaded chicken wire. I think the worst part of handling it, next to the obvious sharp edges, is it always wants to roll back up! Drives me crazy. Good for you, though, in getting it complete.

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  12. Did you ever think vegetable gardening would be such a trial? Thank goodness the payoff is worth it. I hope your improved fence stays bunny proof. I can't believe how bold they were!

    Your photos of rain kissed vegetables are lovely.

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  13. I know it was alot of work, but you certainly showed them who was boss! Good for you, Thomas!

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  14. It looks great and will work well. I wish I had a vinyl coated chickenwire or something. My small kids always hurt themselves repeatedly when I use chickenwire, or else I have a rabbit and woodchuck invasion when I don't.

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  15. Turling - You're so right about the chicken wire...the roll-up was REALLY annoying.

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  16. Beautiful photos, and very funny about the bunny testing the fence.

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  17. Oh wow, Thomas. What a job that must have been. It must have given you some satisfaction when the little bunny put your fence to the test and it passed!

    Beautiful photos.

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  18. That was a hard job to do. But now your garden is safe from rabbits, unless they learn how to fly. :)

    Beautiful rain photos!

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  19. Great photos Thomas! And I bet you'll be happier now that the rabbits can't get to things.

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  20. Ouch, ouch, ouch! I can sooo relate! It really does keep the bunnies out, so, it's worth the effort!
    This is just a warm up for when you put up your chicken run!

    Love the pics!

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  21. The beet greens look excellent! Good luck with keeping the creatures out, seems like the new fence with be worth the pain. We have rabbits around but I have yet to have a problem. My grandpa used to trap and eat the rabbits that got his veggies :-) I'm not man enough to kill rabbits, ha.

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  22. I found a dark green heavy-duty plastic chicken "wire" (no metal) that comes in nice long rolls. It has been up over a year now and is weathering fine.

    We have had one older rabbit who decided that he had the patience to nibble out connections enough to hop through in 3 different boxes. I caught him doing it one day and just stood there, stunned that a rabbit would chew plastic to get at the carrot tops. Needless to say, I have doubled the fencing at any point he chose to do this tedious task, and this has apparently discouraged him.

    However the best part about using the plastic stuff has been the ease with which I can handle it. I like the way the dark green looks outside as well.

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  23. Beautiful raindrop pictures!
    Hopefully the reinforced fencing keeps some critters away.

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