Author: ashworthdavidg

I visited family in Ontario for two weeks in early June.  Thanks to my sister Karen for hosting and keeping me busy.  Just before I left I ordered plans for a 2-car garage.

The plans were waiting for me when I returned home and since then I have been planning the construction.  Yesterday I applied for a building permit which will take a few weeks to be processed.  In the meantime I am searching for a contractor to build the slab-on-grade foundation.  The rest of the construction I will do myself with some help from friends to do heavy lifting.

Above is the site plan.  Currently the driveway extends from the road all the way back to the shed where there is a car/boat tent.  The strategic placement of the garage turns the area behind the garage into garden space, provides privacy, and increases the deer-free zone.  BTW the deer did not penetrate the newly constructed fences while I was away.

The schedule is to build the foundation this year and then construct the rest in 2016 after I return from Mexico.  Yes, I decided to return to Guanajuato next winter, leaving mid-November and returning mid-March.  I will be renting the same efficiency apartment and going to La Hacienda Spanish School, newly founded by my teacher friends.

Since the few days of relaxation at the cabin in April I have been busy.  Right after the sale of the apartment at the end of April I purchase 12 cubic yards of compost.  It took me a week to spread it around, much of it going into the new perennial bed which looks great even without hardly any plants.

The next project has been fencing to keep out the deer.  The back garden was enclosed May 18 and the front garden was finally enclosed yesterday.  It was a ton of work and even so I’m not finished.  There are a few sides that are short-term net barriers, how short-term is TBD.

I mentioned to the cashier at Home Depot one day that my biggest problem is the deer.  I guess I was subconsciously bragging.  She thought it was a beautiful problem to have.  I have to agree that not have bigger problems is beautiful, however, deer in your garden are not.  I can recognized at least four individual deer and they come every day.  This is how I feel about the deer (warning coarse language).

The problem is that the deer will almost eat any garden plant even if on the list of so-called deer-resistant plants.  They especially like eating flowers which is what I grow.  New introductions to the garden are particularly vulnerable being small and not established.  So the best solution is fencing and thus my drive to protect my front and back gardens these past few weeks.

I just saw the big solitary doe walk the front netting. She then turned into the yard and discovered that she was blocked out. They will continue to come, plot and scheme, trying to figure out a way in. It will happen and that will trigger a renewed frenzy of fortification.