Invasion!

Now that my star turn in "Mrs. McThing" (ha!) has ended, I can update you on all the good things I've been up to in my Oasis.

It started in April, when I power washed, primed and repainted my trellis. All told that took a week. I truly couldn't not have accomplished it without help from a friend, who patiently endured me splattering primer everywhere (my hair, my flip flops, a chair). I'm a messy painter!
After that was done, I turned my attention to building my raised bed. I purchased a kit made from recycled plastic. I figured it would be a piece of cake to put together.

Yeah, not so much.

Had the kit come with pre-drilled holes, I would have had no trouble putting the brackets on. Unfortunately, it did not. After nearly breaking my electric screwdriver, I called in the calvary (or in my case, a friend with a big drill) to help. In 5 minutes, he had the brackets attached.
With the brackets in, I was able to lay out and construct the bed. I filled it with a mix of dirt from the garden area and a bag of compost from State College Borough's compost facility.

Once it was built, I planted peppers (two green pepper plants and another variety), rhubarb, onions and lettuce. I supplemented the raised bed with three tomato plants that I put in pots (I had the blight last year, so I figured it was better to put them in pots this year), basil, dill, an unidentified herb I picked up at the Linden Hall Garden Club Plant Sale for $.50 and mint that I'm growing in a container in my house.

I finished all of this at about the same time that rehearsals started for my play. I was quite content to move into growing mode - watering, weeding, excitedly monitoring plants for signs of growth.

Then it happened - a groundhog invasion.

Punxsutawney Phil's evil twin brothers took up residence under my shed. They feasted daily on my lettuce. They dug holes everywhere. When I caught them moving toward the Oasis, I knew it was time to take serious action.

I called in the Crazy Township Neighbor (CTN), who assured me he had much practice in catching these pesky rodents. I didn't want them to die, but I did want them out of my yard. Make no mistake - Punxsutawney Phil is HEAVILY drugged on Groundhog Day. Real groundhogs are horribly mean little creatures. The thought of trapping them on my own and then transporting a hissing, mean animal in my car was less than pleasing.

CTN set up his wooden trap, filling it with carrots, peanut butter crackers and lettuce. Every day, I checked the trap. Most days CTN showed up in my yard in the wee morning hours to check the trap. I was beginning to think I was going to need some kind of CTN extraction plan.
After 3 weeks, CTN lost interest. Some animal was stuck in the trap for a while, but it managed to chew its way out. I moved the lettuce to a window box planter and hung it for my trellis. It hasn't grown (a big bummer), but the groundhogs seemed to have disappeared for now. CTN has gone back to only bugging me at work, thankfully.

Rebirth in the Oasis

"The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing better than they have everdone before." - Vita Sackville-West

One of my friends posted the above quote on my facebook page. This could truly be the quote of the spring, as I am working very hard to take the Oasis to the next level.

In the coming days, I will be installing raised garden beds, painting my trellis and planting, planting, planting. Stay tuned for pictures and details!

In addition to the projects listed above, I installed a rock border along my front flower bed. I literally used the rocks in my cellar (that the old homeowner dug out of the garden area). There are still rocks left, though maybe not enough to create the same border in the backyard.

Spring has sprung on Hemlock Street!