In the last year, I’ve done two things for the yard that have significantly added to my happiness and decreased my stress level:
- Mom and I added a lid to our compost bin and wrapped the whole thing—even the bottom—in 1 cm and smaller mesh. We had had a problem with rodents of unusual size, and, after the unscrupulous murder of a whole family of these rodents—along with an unsuspecting squirrel who was in the wrong place at the wrong time—I just couldn’t take any more death, but I had to make sure my kids didn’t get bitten by marauding ROUSes. I needed to keep the mammals out of my compost, and the mesh has worked like a charm. Do I have fruit flies and slugs? Sure, but we’ll have loads and loads of carbon-heavy leaves to take care of them in a couple of weeks.
- I bought a $25 hose timer to water the garden while we were away in July. It watered for 20 minutes every morning at 6 a.m. I left it on until tonight, when the rain started—this time in earnest, I think. My garden has been too abundant for me, consequently. One cucumber plant has produced at least twenty cucumbers, and there are probably half a dozen still out there. I’ve let some melons rot and feed the slugs, to my dismay; but we’ve eaten five or so. I might have sweet potatoes waiting for me to dig tomorrow, before it gets too muddy. Too many tomatoes, plenty of basil, pretty sunflowers, a few strawberries (but plenty of plants and runners; next year, it’s going to be strawberry heaven!). All in all, a fantastic investment and a great time saver.
That’s my wisdom for this Saturday.