Friday, March 12, 2010

Gardening with allergies


Still haven't caught the gastro-intestinal virus (Thank You, thank You, thank You!!) but my close-up work in the dirt to finish the new raised bed garden did give me an allergy attack of epic proportions. I browsed online for safety masks, but my eyeglasses won't stay on when I wear those stiff ones. I looked at surgical masks, but all the options I saw tie around the head and neck and I hate ties or rubber bands pulling my hair and slipping down. I knew I'd never put 'em on.

Meanwhile Larry had a dental appointment and came home with the best solution ever. These masks that dentists and hygienists wear loop over my ears, and are wonderfully comfortable. The dentist was nice enough to give Larry a half-full box for me! Highly recommended for work that you love but that brings you in contact with allergens.

So - I got my seeds started, in JiffyPots [TM]. Next was how to keep the wildlife from digging in them.



We'd bought a cheap window at Home Depot, to use for a cold frame. Oddly, it's an exact fit for the raised bed, so Larry also came up with this idea for protecting the pots. We used one of the toppers and another broken one to block the uncovered end of the window and thwart our little woodland friends.

2 comments:

ronnie said...

How nice of the dentist to give you those masks!

You can't imagine how envious I am of you that you're already planting. We are thawing - a bit - but always get a last blast of winter in late March and early April to jerk us back to reality. Also, snow and ice falling off the porch this year destroyed the nice cedar window boxes we'd installed. (sigh) I sometimes think any kind of gardening in Zone 4 is the triumph of hope over experience.

Nostalgic for the Pleistocene said...

Aw! Sorry to hear about your window boxes - seems like there oughta be a product of some kind that solves that.