january

So...it's been awhile.

Since that last and now dusty post, Liberty Garden has gained a cold-frame of sorts. I hoped that it would help the peppers winter over, but nope...it was a complete and abject failure. I pulled the healthiest two plants into the house in November. All of the leaves fell off both of them. One never came back, and the other developed a stubborn aphid infestation as soon as the tender new buds turned into tender young leaves. I could have fought the aphids more, I suppose, but putting that sickly-looking, aphid-covered stick out of its misery seemed the best.

I built the cold frame out of 2x4s bolted together and attached to the eave on the east side of the garage. I stapled some visqueen to the 2x4s, leaving a flap on the south side for access. It was roomy! Big enough to hold all of my peppers and a few pots for greens, with tons of room to spare. I immediately jumped ahead in my mind to a cold-frame in May full of happy seedlings eager to be planted in the garden.

Unfortunately, slugs ate all the greens and some critter kept digging up the cilantro (I suspect a squirrel, though I always suspect a squirrel. Rotten little creatures are never up to anything good). Wind storms last month tore the visqueen off the frame, and that now sits in a bundle in the garage. This spring, I'll use lathe to reinforce it. Chalk it all up as lessons learned.

So, the cold frame was an abject failure for fall, but I'm still looking forward to it overflowing with seedlings to be planted this spring (in addition to seedlings that will no doubt fill every windowsill of Liberty House). I'll have to get Evil Cat back on the slug hunting. I'll take care of the damned squirrels. Somehow.

I've also been tending to the Sam Theo-Harris Memorial Croquet Course at Liberty Garden*, which will play host to the first annual Liberty Garden Celebrity Croquet Invitational sometime this summer. I think I have a pretty solid course laid out, and the greens I seeded are taking, so it should look nice, too. That round stone in the photo is where you put your drink when you have to swing. We're inviting Ichiro and Eddie Spaghetti, among others. If you're famous, look for your invitation sometime this Spring.

*Sam passed away this past fall. She loved croquet, and playing against her on my fancy course this summer was a big reason I decided to put the course in. It seems fitting that it be named after her.