Update on gardening and deck.

I’m so excited about what DH has done to the deck. He completely trashed the old plastic lattice and built a new privacy wall from scratch. It looks so much more modern. (Here are the before shots.) I’m showing you a photo below but please realize, we’re still not done so it still looks a wee under construction but you get the drift. And on the other side, the lattice by the door will also be gone soon we hope. We’re envisioning a bistro table on the deck for coffee/tea and relaxing in privacy while being outdoors.

Awesome privacy wall DH built over Memorial Day weekend. This will allow us to sit outside without being bothered whilst in our pajamas.

External view of the privacy wall around the corner of the deck. MUCH more modern than the lattice.

Here you can see some of the old plastic lattice still in place around the grill. We hope to get rid of this as soon as funds will allow. Notice what’s missing? Yep, the broken roof over the back door. That pretty much fell down as DH was nudging it. He’ll replace that with a nicer roof that should withstand tree bombs from the Tree of Hell.

DH also found several bamboo window blinds left in our garbage bin behind the house. Not sure who left them there but I doubt they thought we’d actually use them. As you can see, DH attached them to the side of the deck to hide the lawn tools underneath. I’m still not sure how I feel about them. Maybe it will look better once we get the deck planters in place.

Inside view of DH’s handiwork. Quite nice eh? I’d like him to hang some of his junk art on this side of the wall. Perhaps a hubcap sun?

This shows the little L-shaped area that gets the most sun in our yard. Tho today was quite overcast. I plan to extend the mulched garden area around two sides of the deck once we can get more mulch.

The two squash trellises are made from weed trees we cut from the yard a few weeks ago. Just enough branches for two trellises and since DH is the knot king, very fine and sturdy knots holding them together.

This trellis will be home to three zucchini plants although one would likely have been enough. I’m growing Raven, Golden Dawn and Clarimore. The Clarimore looks a little weak but we’ll see how it goes.

This is the triangular trellis I made from branches. You can see the three little zucchini seedlings at the base. I’m growing Raven, Golden Dawn and Clarimore.

The second trellis will be used for Kabocha squash as soon as I can buy more mulch. I’m doing a modified lasagna method at the base of the trellises. Boatloads of newspaper, then a potting mix with organic fertilizer topped off with partially decomposing items from the yard. Mostly peanut shells from under the deck. After 10 years of feeding peanuts to squirrels, DH has amassed quite a lot of shells. Tho not enough for the entire garden area. I’m still going to have to find some free or cheap mulch to cover the rest of the newspaper and bring around to the front of the deck.

Groups of containers and pots. Trying to leave a path to the air conditioning unit between the trellis and the containers, just in case. NEED MORE MULCH.

Group of 3 old pots, one broken, containing scalloped squash, acorn squash and basil. I squeezed nasturtium seeds into most pots in an attempt to keep aphids at bay.

And here are a couple of snapshots of seedlings just transplanted into some containers in an effort to keep out the rabbits. I’ve also used chicken wire to keep the squirrels from digging up the seedlings. Seems to be working so far.

Big whiskey barrel with Japanese spinach, red onions, mustard greens and some nasturtium seeds. Smaller pots contain scalloped squash and red lettuce. Rabbits haven’t discovered that they can reach the lettuce yet, I’m holding my breath.

The big whiskey barrel was a garbage find in the alley behind our house. I wish I could find 5 more like this. They’re high enough to keep out rabbits, deep enough for just about any plant and I can staple chicken wire to the rim to keep out squirrels.

Oh, and remember this LED fixture DH put in the deck light?

DH is on an LED bender. He’s replaced our deck light with a multi-colored LED gadget.

Well, here it is at night. Cool eh?

Groovy multi-colored LED light on deck.

So once we’re done, we can now host the neighborhood raves!