April is here with blooming trees, daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips. I love April. The temperatures are starting to consistently get up to the 50s and freezing temperatures at night are less frequent. It’s time to start planting. Cabbage, onions, radishes, lettuce, and potatoes can now be planted in my area. It’s a wonderful time of the year.
In this post I’d like to talk about what I have done to defeat the infestation of serious weed problems and progress on the Sweet Corn Fortress to defeat the raccoons.
Last year was a year of trying to recover from the year before. The 2014 year was a year of medical issues so not much was done in the garden which as you can see resulted in bind weed infestation. Cleaning out this nest of vines might seem daunting but actually it rolled up in a big ball rather easily. That was about the extent of what I got accomplished last year.
This March the weather broke and garden construction could begin. A layer of old carpet was laid down over the complete area where the fortress would be. The carpet was acquired over the winter by dumpster diving around apartment buildings. A neighbor renovated his rock wall with new retaining wall blocks. The three corn beds were lined with the rocks. The carpet was cut from the center of the beds and the pathways were mulched with hard wood mulch.
By the end of March the inner fence was completed with used chain link fence and spare chicken wire fencing I had laying around. The next step in building the sweet corn fortress is to string three electric wire strands around the outside of the inner fence. Once will be at six inches, another will be at twelve inches, and another at twenty four inches. The fence will be powered by a battery powered electric fencer. The final defense will be live traps baited with marshmallows. I’ve heard that raccoons are attracted to marshmallows. So that’s it. The sweet corn fortress is coming together. Perhaps I’ll be munching on tasty sweet corn by August.
How do you deal with raccoons? Have a great day in the April garden.
