Rabbit fence and Shrubbery!

We had ridiculously cold weather a few days ago, but now it feels like summer again. It rained last night and it is threatening to rain again this morning, but the air is thick and warm and you could practically swim through it. If I could, I would include the scent of this morning in my post. It is heavy with the smell of the lilac tree, mock orange, and peonies. Be still my heart.

Last night, I asked husband for help to finish the rabbit fence. My vegetable garden will be considerably smaller (almost on the "cute" side) than previous years. The world domination strawberries take up 2/3 of the garden. No, I don't have them in rows. Yes, I regret not taking command of them and ruthlessly ripping some out and creating rows from the chaos, however they are ripening right now and they are incredible! No comparison to the tasteless midwinter nuggets that I buy in clear plastic containers.

The rabbit fence is literally just that. I am no longer willing to feed and sustain the growing rabbit population, regardless of how cute they are and how much I want to pet them. You can only replant so many times. Husband was disgusted with how I constructed this. He would have built a permanent fence and probably sunk posts into concrete, but I didn't want to wait for all of that, so teenager son and I started two days ago and husband helped to finish last night. Yup, it's just re-used tomato stakes (I use these in addition to tomato cages to keep big tomato plants upright), actual "rabbit fencing" that I bought in two rolls from the local farm supply store, and a bunch of staples. When husband said he would never have done it this way, I let him know that I wasn't trying to contain cattle with it, I was just keeping fluffy bunny rabbits away from my garden. He informed me that these rabbits wear little tool belts at night with wire cutters and it wouldn't keep them out for long.

You may notice that there doesn't seem to be any vegetables growing in my vegetable garden. I decided I wasn't going to plant a thing until there was a fence. But last night, I did put in some potatoes. A very small amount. It's going to be such a small garden.

What my vegetable garden lacks, my shrubbery (can't say that word, even in my head, without Monty Python and the Knights who say Ni popping up) is making up for . Here is a picture down by the pool of Gerald the Easter Island Head wearing his headdress of dappled willow and weigela. I cut that willow back really hard last fall and look at it now. I think I did not plan well when I planted that border because it is crowding out the shrubs beside it. Regardless, it puts on a beautiful show this time of year.