Season Finale

Well, the season finale as far as gardening is concerned is usually not too spectacular.  Plants have died off from the cold, been pulled from the beds and piled next to the compost bin waiting for spring to be shredded in the chipper and added back in to the compost mix.  I found that if the vines and plant material are too green, they tend to clog and gum up the chipper so we have found it better to wait until they have dried out and are brittle.

We have cleaned the beds and tucked them in to rest .  By this I mean covered the soil with a protective insulating blanket.  I put chipped leaves in 2 beds and used wood chips for the rest.  Last year I tried to use whole leaves as the cover and they just blew out of the beds for the most part.

Another thing we did to prepare for the winter was to pull the tomato and pepper plants from the green house, where they produced a couple weeks longer than the outside plants.   Next we transplanted some chard from the raised beds in hopes of extending the growing season a bit to have fresh chard another month or so.  There are three different varieties of chard in the below picture: Perpetual Spinach Chard, Rainbow Chard and Swiss Chard.  Last year we had chard all winter because of the mild temperatures.  We may have to cover these with a layer of remay cloth to keep them from getting too cold this winter.  The hanging baskets have baby greens in them that Shannon cuts for salads.

My main winter project is to come up with a watering solution for next year.  Watering by hand is too time consuming.  I am leaning heavily on customizing a complete solution using DripWorks products.  This will require tubes, valves, connectors, emitters, galore.  I will need to measure and sketch up (in CAD of course) the existing layout to get accurate info for connector counts and hose lengths etc.  There is an array of options to choose from so it will take some planning, and testing to find the best setup.  I may need to buy some of the different sprayers and emitters for testing purposes.

Reflection of Miracles

It has been cold and rainy as winter approaches this October.  Now is a good time to look back and reflect on garden this past year.  I have entitled this post "Reflection of Miracles" as indeed there has been many marvelous and wonderful things God has provided this past year.

Miraculous Harvests

Enough to Process

 It is indeed a miracle to go from tiny seeds to a bountiful harvest.  God blessed us with an abundance of produce.  Enough to process by freezing, canning and drying.  Shannon has come a long way from being afraid to can, to canning our own produce this year.  (Shannon here, I had this fear of the canner blowing its top and canning jars stuck in the ceiling.  Yes, I know that my vision of catastrophe is nigh unto impossible but that was my very active imagination's worst case scenario if I messed up.)

Miracle Watermelon 

One of the amazing tales is of our Miracle Watermelon.  Several things had to happen for this miracle.  The expansive plants grew from a few stray seeds, probably spit off our deck to the edge of our patio below which was put in this year.  They survived the grass being removed and the ground disturbed when we put in our new Goji plants.  As the melon plants started to grow, they were getting into the Goji plants and I wanted to pull them so they wouldn't crowd them out but Shannon did not.  After a discussion, we decided to leave the plants. (Shannon here: This may have been the biggest part of the miracle, Timothy let me leave them to just see what might happen.)  My experience with watermelon in the garden was always very poor with small melons and mediocre taste.  Well as you can see in the lower left corner of the picture above the plant had nearly taken over the entire Goji paddock.  To my surprise there were some rather large melons growing on the vines.  Not sure when to pick them, we did some research and have found the best indicator is when the little curly tail, the tendril closest to the melon, dries out. (See lower right of picture above.)  The biggest melon we pulled was nearly 28 lbs!  It was some of the best tasting melon I can remember and everyone who tried it said it was very good.

Miracle Gojis

 The Goji plants we started from seed this year actually bore a small number of berries.  This might not seem that spectacular, but it was to me as I hadn't expected anything for 3 years from everything I read about them.  Oh, and they tasted good too.

Miracles of Beauty

This collage contains only a few of the things of beauty found in the garden this year.  The richness of the purple morning glories are amazing.  Although we had only one apple on our small tree because of the late frost, it was the biggest and best tasting our tree has ever produced that I know of.  And of course I must include Shannon, found here with watering cans in hand.  Isn't she cute! :)  (Shannon:  Aww... blush)

Miracles of Oddity

Some of the things grown and found in the garden where of interest and amusement.  Upper left is the inside of a bell pepper that contained no seeds.  Lower left is a muskmelon that did not fully develop, paint on eyes and it might look like a face with hair.  Lower right is a bi-colored bell pepper.  Upper right is one of many interesting creatures we found in the garden this year.  This fuzzy caterpillar, which appeared to not have eyes, would stretch and reach as far as it could, using its long fuzzy hair as feelers to know if an object was nearby for which it would then grab hold and continue its search for its food, which was grass and weeds.  (Shannon: Thus the reason it did not come to a quick end under Timothy's no pest left undead policy.  Timothy has just informed me that his normal policy is kill first, ask questions later.)

Miracle of Convenience

Here is an idea we were trying this year, growing lettuce in hanging baskets.  Convenient for picking at table height, or when it is getting cold and / or rainy out, just grab the whole basket and bring it inside for harvesting.  Shannon really enjoys the staying warm part!

Mystery Miracle of Life

 This last picture is definitely a small miracle.  This is the bottom of our black rain barrel I was recently in the process of emptying and storing for winter.  I started with an empty, dry barrel in the spring with a fine screen over the top to keep mosquitoes out.  I have since filled and emptied this barrel many times over the summer with either rain water collected from the roof or with water from our hand pump.  How did it get in here and how did it survive and grow to a few inches?  Amazing.  He was transported to Shannon's large pond for his new home.

Many miracles, blessings and a good year in the garden.  Thank you Heavenly Father.

Encouragement

Despite the trials and difficulties with the gardening, the harvest from 9-2-2012 was very encouraging. Shannon has done more canning this year than ever before which has also been encouraging.

Freshly Canned Salsa  (Hot Water Bath)

The harvest from earlier this week was 2 lb-14 oz of beans, 6 oz of peppers, 3 lb-12 oz of summer squash, and 21 lb-6 oz of tomatoes!  At the community garden where we volunteer, we weigh everything and record it.  Maybe it is worth doing in our garden for a year to year comparison?

Bounty of Encouragement!

On another note, we got a load of horse manure to add to our beds for next year.  Thanks Mom and Dad for the use of your truck and trailer!

Horsey Droppings.

Here is a unique Green and orange pepper, looks kinda cool. :)

Cool Pepper

A Glimmer of Hope.

It has been awhile since my last post.  We have been harvesting lettuce, basil, raspberries, the odd strawberry, onions, tomatoes, green and purple pole beans, green peppers, Swiss chard, crooked neck squash and zucchini.  Shannon made salsa with some of our garden harvest, except for the hot peppers, which she got from the local farmers market since we didn't have any of our own.  We have made a couple batches of fresh and canned 6 small jars via water bath.

Fresh Homemade Salsa

There are still more new bugs, the latest being an infestation of red aphids on the tomatoes.  The leaves may be poisonous to humans but not to all bugs!

As summer is winding down, I would say this is our best year so far on amount of produce harvested, but we have also planted more beds then ever as well.  In the bug and disease department, the powdery mildew, aphids, and bean beetles have been the worst this year.  So what is the glimmer of hope I want to discuss?  Is it by planting more you will get more?  Well this would makes sense, but that also means much more work.  No, the glimmer of hope is in dealing with the large number of plant diseases and pests.  There seems to be no end and the battle rages on...  Just look at how many different sprays and powders that you can buy to combat the bugs and diseases. Wouldn't it be nice to have disease and pest free plants without adding scores of chemicals to combat them?  Like in the Garden of Eden perhaps?  Is it possible now?  A book I read seems to indicate this, but is it too good to be true?

I read from the book called "An Agricultural Testament"  by Sir Albert Howard, published in 1943, about how he did this very thing.   Sir Albert talks about a composting process developed in Indore India, after which it is named.  The Indore process uses plant and animal waste to create a healthy, living humus teaming with microbes.  The idea is to create and maintain healthy soil, which in turn  will give health and life to the plants growing in it.  Sir Albert  further extends this logic to propose that a person eating these healthier plants, will in turn be healthier.  He gives results and studies from his own findings after years of experience.  I don't have the resources to make the compost the way it is laid out in the book, but I can get some horse manure and attempt to make better soil for the plants.  This will hopefully lead to healthier plants, which in turn will make us healthier.

An excerpt from the book below pretty much sums up the need to return to natural farming techniques, published in 1943!:

The flooding of the English market with cheap food, grown anywhere and anyhow, forced the farmers of this country to throw to the winds the old and well-tried principles of mixed farming, and to save themselves from bankruptcy by reducing the cost of production. But this temporary salvation was paid for by loss of fertility. Mother earth has recorded her disapproval by the steady growth of disease in crops, animals, and mankind. The spraying machine was called in to protect the plant; vaccines and serums the animal; in the last resort the afflicted live stock are slaughtered and burnt. This policy is failing before our eyes. The population, fed on improperly grown food, has to be bolstered up by an expensive system of patent medicines, panel doctors, dispensaries, hospitals, and convalescent homes.

You can read the entire book online at:
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/howardAT/ATtoc.html

The Genesis Curse

I was reading through Genesis again lately and I am reminded that God cursed the ground twice because of man's sin.  In chapter 1 verse 17 and again chapter 4 verses 11-12.  This curse(s) are still with us today as evidenced by some more diseases I am showcasing here.  One is Powdery Mildew, which has affected our squash plants and Cucumber Bacterial Wilt, which has infected at least one of our cucumber plants.

Powdery Mildew on Zucchini

 I have cut off the most infected leaves in the hopes that the disease will not spread as quickly to the entire plant and did a spray application of a few drops of Neem oil and 7th generation dish soap (to help keep the Neem on the leaves) in water.

Applying Neem on Zucchini infected with PM

After doing some research on the web I found that Powdery Mildew is a fungi that is spread by the wind, insects, and splashing water.  This disease affects many plants, however a different strain of fungus attacks different plant families.  One thing I read about was a water / baking soda mixture that could be sprayed on the leaves, which is more of a preventative measure than an eradicant.  Something I should keep in mind for next year.  As I was wondering about throwing the infected leaves into my compost, I did some preliminary research and found mixed opinions on the safety of using the composted leaves.  I also read that the mildew doesn't always kill the plant, but can severely limit production.

Reading up on Bacterial Wilt, I found that it is spread by the striped or spotted cucumber beetle.  A pest that we definitely found a lot of this year.  This virus infects plants from the curcurbit family (cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins and gourds) and causes a sticky, oozy substance in the plants which clog the plant's circulatory system so the vines don't receive the water they need.  Once infected, there is not much hope for the plant.

Bacterial Wilt on Cucumber Plant

Rain!!

After many hot dry days, we got rain.  Last week we got 7/10 of an inch of rain and last night, around 3am, we had a large thunderstorm with lots of wind and rain.  It was odd in that the wind came from the North and hit the front of our house. Normally the wind blows from the West.  This morning there was 2 inches of rain in our rain gauge!  We are grateful for the much needed rain.  This evening we picked some bounty from the garden as shown below.  We hope you also enjoy some random / artsy shots from the garden.

2" of Rain!!

Purple Pole Bean Blossoms

Tomato Blossoms

Tomatoes, Soon to Ripen

Dill Umbel

Melon Blossom with Ant

Spaghetti Winter Squash

Tigerella Tomato

Pickings from 7-31-2012 (Minus What Was Eaten While Picking)

Lessons from the squash vine borer

Our zucchini plants have been struck again by the squash vine borer this year despite the added protection of foil around the base and the use of row covers for a limited period of time.  The destructive nature of this attack is very easily missed and usually fatal to the entire plant.  The plant can look fine one day then totally collapse the next.  What can we learn from this?

When we examine ourselves, just looking in the mirror isn't always enough. We need to dig deeper, and examine our heart.  Perhaps like the fated zucchini in which there were 3 jumbo borer larva found inside upon closer inspection, we also may find things that are destructive to our soul.  Now I am not talking about using a knife and scalpel, but I am talking about examining your words and thoughts.  Scripture tells us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.  If our words and thoughts are pure and clean at all times, that is a good indication of our healthy inner state.  But what do we do if we don’t like what we find upon deeper examination?  Eradicate the junk!  How do we do that?  One way is following the advice of Philippians 4:8 

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

To help with this, I also suggest for you to take a look at your environment.  If it is negative, filthy, or harmful to your body or soul, change it if you can.  Surround yourself with good, beautiful things and people that love you and it will help you remain positive and able to keep the squash vine borers of life at bay.    

Squash Vine Borer

Squash Vine Borer (1 of 3 found in plant)

Garden Status Update

Today I am planning to just share a few thoughts and pics from the garden to date.  It is still hot with at least 3 days over 100 degrees Fahrenheit so far this year.  Many more days were in the high 90's...  Don't remember a year like it as this is very unusual for our area.  It actually briefly rained today, but it wasn't enough to get the ground wet.

We have had a very productive year as far as what we have been harvesting.  We probably have harvested more this year so far than the 2 previous years combined.  Today we picked 13 green bell peppers and cut some up to put in the freezer.  Last year we maybe got one. The fence has helped tremendously and our dogs are sad as their free pepper snacks are now out of reach.  The pole beans are growing up the fence.  Yesterday while watering, we noticed entire leaves that were sticking out through the fence were cleanly eaten off.  We are pretty sure it was deer.

Some of the beds seem too crowded, now that the plants have grown.  This is good and bad as it makes for more fruit, but it is also harder to find it.

Enjoy some of the pics below.  Blessings.

Leaf Lettuce

Shelled Peas

Swiss Chard

Hanging Garlic for Drying Out

100+

Today's Harvest!

Dear Damage on Purple Pole Beans

Crowded Zucchini Bed

Crowded Tomato Bed

Scorched Earth

We haven't had any rain to speak of now in almost 3 months.  Many places around the country are suffering from high heat and low rain.  Watering by hand from the hand pump is just taking too long.  The Oasis pump has completely failed and I have returned it to the manufacturer per his request.  For us we still have water options despite the lack of rain.  We have city water which draws its source from Lake Michigan.  The 5 large lakes around Michigan comprise 20% of the worlds fresh water.  Because of the drought we are needing to water a lot to keep the plants happy.  For now we are using the city water via garden hose and spray nozzle instead of the hand pump and watering cans to save several hours each time we water.  It might not be the best water choice because the city adds chlorine, alum, and fluoride, but time is valuable too.  We have been looking at the possibility of getting a garden hose filter to pull out the chlorine.  We would also like to install some soaker-hoses or drip-lines into the beds eventually so that we can save even more time in watering.  There are many options and styles and PSI ratings to consider so I don't know the best thing to get.  Might just have to get something and see how it goes.

No, we don't live in a desert...  Yet.

Wood chips, sand, grass, dirt...  All brown

You can tell who waters their grass in the neighborhood...  Not us

This year we had some very warm early spring days in Michigan followed by some hard freezes that resulted in nearly total crop loss for cherries, apples, and peaches across the state.  The crop loss and drought hasn't affected the average person too much yet but apple prices are starting to climb.  If we have more years like this the effects will be multiplied.  I am reminded of Michael Boldea's dream of three men in a wheat field.  (http://www.handofhelp.com/vision_58.php)  It is worth reading so I have copied it below.

THREE MEN IN A WHEAT FIELD

Posted March 2010

Shortly after returning to the United States I began having a recurring dream.  I have prayed many nights as to whether or not I should share this dream, and I finally received confirmation that I should.  There are some dreams or visions that I receive wherein I know instantly that it was either meant for me personally, or that it was intended to be shared.  This was not such a dream.  After seeking the Lord on the matter however, I know I was supposed to make this dream public.  

I dreamt I stood in front of a large wheat field.  By the golden hew the wheat stalks had taken on, in my dream, I knew that it was close to harvest time, either late summer or early autumn.  It was beautiful and peaceful watching the wheat sway gently in the breeze under a picture perfect blue sky.  

As I grew familiar with the scene before me, I began looking around and saw three men, evenly spaced at the edge of the field.  One man stood on the left corner of the rectangular field, the second man stood in the middle, and the third man stood on the far right edge.  

All three men were dressed in white, and since I was seeing them from behind I could not make out their faces.  Each of the three men held something in their right hand.  The man on the left held a burning torch, the man in the middle held something that looked like a wineskin, and the man in the far right corner held an old fashioned sickle, and a basket lay on the ground next to him.  I recognized the sickle, because I used to play with one in my adolescence while living in Romania.  

As I stood and watched this strange scene before me, the man on the far left tipped his torch slightly, and touched one of the wheat stalks with the lit torch.  Suddenly about one third of the entire wheat field burst into flame.  The fire went out as quickly as it began a sudden burst of flame, followed by the scorched remnants of a once beautiful wheat field.  

As I continued watching, the second man uncorked the wineskin, raised it about shoulder level, and tipped it slightly.  One solitary drop of water poured out of the wineskin, but as it made contact with the wheat another third of the field was leveled as though a great wave had just swept through it.  

I did not understand what I was seeing but I continued to watch the scene unfold.  I was expecting the third man to do something as dramatic as the first two, but instead he simply bent from the waist, grabbed a handful of wheat stalk with his left hand, and with a practiced swing of the sickle cut through it.  He then laid the wheat he had cut in the basket.  Although there was a solemnity in the actions of all three men, the gentleness and care with which the third man laid the wheat in the basket stood out for some reason.  The man continued the process of cutting wheat and putting it in the basket until it was full, then with practiced ease, tied the wheat into a small bushel with a piece of twine he removed from his waist.  He laid the bushel aside, and returned to swinging the sickle and filling the basket.  This went on for some time as the man methodically and quickly made bushel after bushel of wheat.  

For the first two nights, this is where my dream ended, and as I knew this could not be the end of it, I began to pray that I might either see the conclusion of the dream, or receive the interpretation.  

On the third night, the dream began as the previous two nights, with the first man setting fire to one third of the field, the second man flooding one third, and the third man meticulously harvesting the last third, I thought it would be the same dream yet again, until the man with the sickle turned, looked at me and said, ‘the world will know hunger, the faithful will know the power of their God.’ I recognized him; I had seen him in both my dreams and my visions before.  

I woke up, and went about my day thinking that I would have the dream again that night, but the dream did not return.  I received no further insight or interpretation, but this is what I believe in regards to its meaning:

I believe that a worldwide food shortage is imminent.  Whether due to too much sun and not enough rain, or too much rain and unprecedented weather patterns, global agriculture will suffer a severe blow very shortly.  I also believe that God has already prepared provision for His children, that He will provide for them, and miraculously so.  I do not believe God reveals coming events to His children that they might grow fearful or panic, but rather that they might learn to trust Him, knowing that He who is already into tomorrow, has already made provision for it.  

Matthew 6:25-26, Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?

Matthew 6:31-33, Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek firs the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Waterworks

Water is crucial for us and our plants.  It can be something that we take for granted until we find ourselves in a dry situation.  It has been close to a month since our last rainfall and the dusty ground shows it.  We are blessed to have a seemingly never ending supply from our city tap, but how would we fare if this wasn’t there?  What we are attempting to do with our garden watering is to not have to rely on city water, which has chlorine, fluoride and other chemicals added.  Below are the two ways we are using free water sources other than city water.

The first source is collecting the rain.  We put up rain gutters last summer with the help of a friend and have a barrel set up to collect the runoff.  It is amazing how only 2 tenths of an inch can easily fill up and overflow a 50 gallon barrel.  Since this barrel is up on a hill and a bit further from the garden beds we can hook up a hose and let gravity drain to another barrel we store at the bottom of the hill under our deck and next to a hand pump.  We could also possibly hook up a nozzle and use this to water directly.  It takes a little over a full barrel to water everything, depending on how many plants are up at the time.  We have found though that the plants wilt less and we don’t have to water as much this year as in the past because of the extra mulch we have added to the beds.  But what do we do if it hasn’t rained in a while?

Rain water transfer from upper to lower barrel

Shannon filling watering cans from lower barrel

The second source is a shallow well with a hand pump.  I have PVC hooked up from my pump to flow directly into the barrel.  This makes it handy to store the water and let it warm up so that it is not such a shock on the plants.  Since the water coming out of the ground is about 40 degrees, we try to use it directly on the Cole crops to help retard bolting.  We use water from the barrel on the warm crops if we can.

I need to amend my review on the oasis pump I have been using.  I am definitely a lot happier with it now than when I first started using it.  I called the gentleman who makes the pumps and talked to him about how it was leaking when I tried to pump uphill.  He said it shouldn’t do that and said to send it back and he would exchange it for a new one.  Upon its return, I hooked it up again and this time used pipe tape which eliminated the problem I had with losing prime. I then tested pumping uphill and this time no problem, everything worked as expected!  Be sure to cover it though when not in use because the sun is hard on plastics.  07-03-2012 UPDATE:  This pump is not durable, the handle broke, and suction fails to lift water.  I am now using my cast iron pump again.  I do not recommend this pump, although the concept is nice for raised storage.

Direct hand water pump to storage barrel.
The vertical pipe top is open to pour water in for priming.

There are many in this world that do not have water so readily available as us.  Many have to travel a distance to collect dirty water in a jug for the family from a well. With all this talk about water, I would be remiss if I didn’t mentioned the water we can drink of and never thirst again, a well of water springing up into everlasting life.  That water and life is from our Savior who cares for us.  (John 4:14, 6:35)

Bug Wars

In this post I am giving an update on what we have been doing in the garden in general, and the bug wars we have been fighting in particular.

It has been hotter and dryer than usual for our area so far this summer.  Another thing we have noticed is that there are almost no beneficial insects around to speak of, a single might be spotted here or there, but that is all.  Our Brassicaceaes have been plagued with cabbage white larvae, but even more damaging are the aphids that cause the plant leaves to shrivel up.

This year to combat the squash vine borer we discussed in an earlier posting, we put some aluminum foil around the base of our zucchini plants, and as an extra measure we put row covers over the plants as well.  It was just in time too as we saw the borer adult trying to lay eggs on the plants, right at the base where it will do the most damage!  The idea with the row covers is to keep the adults, which are actually a day flying black and red moth away from the plants.  This works until the flowers come out, then we need to remove the row covers to allow them to get pollinated.  The hope is that the borer adults will not be around later in the year. Although last year I recall seeing some adults much later than they were supposed to be out, probably due to our cold, wet spring.

Covered Zucchini to combat squash vine borer

This year we are finding a new menace, similar to the squash vine borer.  Our raspberries are being hit with the raspberry cane borer!

Excerpt on Raspberry cane borer from University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension (http://extension.unh.edu/resources/representation/Resource000552_Rep574.pdf)


Description
The adult cane borer is a slender, black beetle with long, black antennae, black head and yellow prothorax. Adults are about one half an inch long. The larvae are legless, light-colored borers found within the stem. Fully grown larvae are about 3/4 inch long.


Life Cycle
This insect has a two-year life cycle. Adults emerge beginning in June and females lay eggs in the pith of new raspberry growth, about six inches from the tip of the cane. The female beetle then makes two rows of punctures around the cane, one just above and one just below the egg-laying point. This causes the tip of the new cane to wilt. The egg hatches in early July and the larva burrows slowly down the cane, passing the first winter within and inch or two of the girdle. During the second year the larva burrows down to the crown and passes the second winter at or below ground level. It completes its development the following spring and pupates in the soil.


Control
Chemicals are not necessary to control this pest. Cut girdled canes an inch or so below the girdle and burn them soon after cane borer damage appears. Attacked canes wilt, making the damage easy to spot. Eliminating wild raspberries nearby will reduce damage. Since the life cycle requires two years to complete, regular pruning usually keeps the population in check.


If caught early I found that I can easily snap the cane at the lower ring and split the cane apart to find and squish the larva.

Wilted Raspberry Tip...  Check for cane borer.

Close up of cane borer damage, girdled cane markings.

On another subject, while pumping water from the Oasis hand pump earlier this week (I have to give Oasis a negative mark for durability) the pump handle snapped from normal use.

BUSTED!

Thankfully the handle from my cast iron pump was a good match and I was able to replace the handle and continue to use the pump without much delay.

Retrofitted pump handle

As a last note for this post, in preparation for the pole beans getting taller, I attached a section of 4x4 fencing panel on the ends of beds 5, 6, and 7 using 2 L-screws on each post pointing in opposite directions to keep the panel in place.  These wood posts are turning out to be quite handy!

Beds with panels added for pole beans