Sticking to the plan regarding the fence, we picked up another fence panel to install on the eastern fence line continuing south towards the eastern gate. As before, we had to move the panel across the compound to the east fence line, which wasn't as simple as just pulling the truck over to the back. Given the fact that there are vehicles blocking every avenue to the eastern fence, we had to muscle the panel over to the spot to get it installed. With all the other equipment set up on site, the installation went faster than before. Only thing different we had to do was cut a small angled piece out of the end to mate up to the last panel, which was at a slight angle due to the grade of the ground. Conveniently, after mating the panels together end to end after cutting out the angled piece of the end, I didn't even have to worry about adding any extra 2x4's to the posts on either end to provide an attachment point for the panel. With this panel in place that leaves seven panels before we reach the eastern gate. Eventually we'll have the firewood staging area fenced in completely and with that I can move on to laying gravel over the remaining area leading up to the firewood staging area. While getting the fence panel we did take the liberty of getting some more flats of lettuce that were still available despite everything being transitioned over to Christmas trees and the like. Weather for all intents has still been relatively mild that the current salad greens we have planted in some of the raised beds are still going strong. Adding more to the raised beds that I pulled the sweet potatoes from will allow us to continue to get use of the raised beds even in this "off season". Even with these flats of lettuce, the selections were pretty few and those flats that were different than the regular leaf lettuce only had three or four individual plants versus the full six plants per flat so it was two flats of leaf lettuce for us. With the moist weather and periodic rains, we didn't even have to run the micro irrigation system at all to keep the raised beds irrigated. More than likely this will continue to be the case. I may actually get some drop cloth and try to set up some kind of makeshift cold frames to cover up the occupied raised beds in case a freak cold snap does show up. It would be cool to be able to throw down some kind of makeshift frame made of PVC pipe then drape plastic over the whole works to cover the things up to keep the greens protected in their own little greenhouses. Such an assembly can be easily dismantled and stowed away where the plastic can still be reused later without it degrading from setting in the sun too long. With the leftover PVC that we have on the rack, I may very well be able to whip up some frames to place over the drum raised beds that won't cost much outside of a few extra PVC fittings. I more than likely still have some plastic laying around as well. On a lighter note, while in the garden I did overlook one raised bed that had a potato plant that had already died back but was forgotten about long before I harvested the sweet potatoes. For the hell of it I stuck my hand in the dirt and rooted around, and was pleasantly surprised to find a single large spud along with a few smaller ones, still well preserved in the cool soil. I dug these all up and washed them off, waiting for the opportunity to cook them up in some dish, knowing that our own work produced what we're eating. We had other potato plants in the other raised beds but the main batch was harvested sometime this past fall. The single potato plant spawning these spuds was the last holdout, waiting until late fall to finally die back. But back to the cold frame idea. With such a setup I could actually get some early starts to seed potatoes as well as other plants in the pre-spring weeks. I can even plant commercial flats of plants earlier than usual and cover them up while they grow, allowing them to get a well established foothold in the raised beds so by the time the weather does break, those plants will already be ahead of the game.
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