i rode the motorcycle to the somerville home depot this morning (14 minutes by motocycle, 20 minutes by bicycle). i needed chicken wire to make cages to protect our delicate seedlings from rabbits and other critters. they were all sold out at my usual watertown store, the next nearest place that had it was somerville. i was hoping it'd be less crowded on monday but they were as busy as ever, one of the few stores that were allowed to stay open during the coronavirus shutdown. fencing material was in aisle 30 all the way at the far end of the store. when i got there i was dejected: it looked like they were sold out of most everything. i was looking for rolls of 3'x25' 1" 20GA poultry netting ($19.93). it didn't make sense because according to their website they still had 7, but sometimes what the website reports and what's actually in stock can be wrong.
i was about to leave when i looked up and noticed what appeared to be a box of chicken wires. just so happens there was a ladder right in front of me (like destiny), so i climbed it and found what i was looking for. i accidentally managed to stab myself in the fingers because there were some sharp prongs sticking out of the roll. i also got a 1/2" bar x 3/4 MIP nylon adapter ($2.35); the website said there were 2 dozen, but i only saw one. i need this to connect to our on-demand pump if for some reason the latest nylon adapters we bought online end up not working either.
i stopped briefly at home before leaving for belmont. i measured up 2 fl. oz. of serenade concentrated fungicide (currently very hard to fine, like gardening gold) to make 1 gallon of spray that i applied to the grapes after discovering black rot spots on some reliance grape leaves. went inside to have some lunch before coming back out and spraying the rest of the grapes (concord). none of the concord grapes had leaf spots except for a patch of old wood, which also happened to be the only patch that's producing grapes this year after we heavily pruned the grapevines.
i replaced the mosquito screens on two of the red rain barrels (the ones with screw off lids, behind the garage and southwestern corner). my father and i then made rolled up cages for our squash seedlings. we ended up making 10 of them, cutting the 3ft tall chickenwire in half since the cages don't need to be so tall. we also made screens for the cucumber, peas and morning glory seedlings sprouted up from the backs of RB0, RB1, RB2, and RB3, just a bit of protection from squirrels and rabbits. we made 6 (10 links long).
since i had so much serenade left over, i sprayed the flowering cherry and flowering plum trees, as sort of a preventative measure from possible fungal diseases. inspecting some of the jasmines, i found a few mealybugs on the tender tips which i treated with insecticidal soap. i also sprayed the behind-the-garage lupines after discovering the aphid infestation had come back. i dusted diatomaceous earth powder on the eggplants and tomatoes. i pruned some tomato branches so they're just a single central stalk. finally i planted the 2 remaining white hydrangeas in the former dahlia bed between the redbud and flowering cherry trees.
that lone rabbit showed back in the backyard again, i don't think it ever left. trying to drive it out of the backyard seems too futile, and the live trap doesn't work because there's plenty to eat that the carrot bait doesn't attract it at all. using the big net has some promises, i'll try again next weekend. currently all our seedlings are protected, we can afford to have the rabbit graze on some violet leaves and clover flowers. not only was there a rabbit in the backyard this evening, but a squirrel, a chipmunk, a female cardinal, and a pair of robins, a real life backyard zoo.
we ate leftover barbecue for dinner. returning home, i went to my community garden to water my plants.
4 more days! |