A new look for My Patio Farm: BABYPROOF!

Babies! They are not cheap. After six weeks of searching for houses in our beloved Mt. Washington, we have decided that we actually have a pretty great deal on the house we currently rent, we don’t want to leave it unless we absolutely HAVE to, and that yes, it was worth putting some money into baby proofing the deck, AKA My Patio Farm.

Our goal was to put as little cash as possible into this baby proofing effort. Safety was key. Beauty was not. Sadly, it turns out that cheap fencing is pretty expensive (this cost us about $650), but still looks solidly cheap (although oddly, not in this photo). When the handymen who built it left we noticed  little white price stickers on most of the pieces of wood, a terribly drippy stain job, and there was already a split in one of the rails. YIKES!

I know what you are thinking: “Couldn’t you and Eric  have just done it yoursevles?”  The answer, unfortunately, is: NO. WAY. IN. HELL.  I know my limitations, my husband’s limitations, and the sorts of strains our marriage can and cannot handle. Trust me. Attempting to do this on our own would result in disaster (ie: divorce).

And besides, in the end, I think I’m happy with the result. The fencing will serve as a nice trellis on which to tie my new tomato plants (purchased, unexpectedly but VERY happily from the Tomatomania people). And I’m hoping I can tie the eggplant and zucchini plants up as well.  I am going to put some easter egg radishes  (they come in lavender, pink and white, and you don’t know what you have until you pull them out of the ground!) in the planter box which I have now moved from deep shade to spotty shade. And who knows, maybe someday I’ll revisit the grape idea.