Ohmystinkinheck

Almost 2 weeks ago Mr. OMSH brought these home for me. We immediately planted the lime and lemon trees in front (By the way, my lime tree is putting out buds and my lemon tree has some lemons growing!) and the next day the blueberry bushes were planted in the backyard.

This area gets a lot of direct light and allows enough room to plant the two bushes a healthy distance apart.

Knowing that people aren’t the only creatures that rob these bushes of their fruit, we also purchased the supplies to put up a sort of “cage” around the blueberry bushes. We’re mean like that - don’t want to share just yet with the friendly neighborhood birds.

The 1 x 2’s you see below will be used for the top of the frame.

Planting the bushes in the back corner of the yard provided two walls for our "cage" already. With (3) 1×2’s and (2) 2×4 posts, the framework went up rather quickly.

Then a roll of soft mesh netting was used as the “roof” and “sides”. The sun can get in, but not the birds. We staple-gunned the netting to the fence and then the posts/boards.

You get in and out through an opening on the side. We pull the opening closed and clamp it with alligator clips to the fence on the right.

The leftover wood pieces you see on the ground are rolled/wrapped once in the loose mesh netting at the base of the cage. We’ve done this at my grandparents’ home and it has worked well to keep out most scavengers. Except for that one super huge chicken snake that about scared the beejeebies out of me, but we won’t talk about that right now.

And guess what? Our plants are already producing a good amount of blueberries. Yep, ALREADY!

I’m as bad of a forager as the birds would be if they could get to them. Anytime I’m watering, walk by it, or take a break from my day’s work, I walk out there and pick one or two…sometimes even three.

Yesterday I got caught in there with a bee.

I’m not too freaky about bees in general - we have a number of them in our backyard at any given time. Still, being inside an enclosed area with a bee buzzing about my head is a tad unnerving.

And just in case you’re wondering, this is not going to become a gardening blog, but we’ve had some projects on the backburner for a while and it sure has felt good to put them into play!

20 Responses to “I’ve been checking my thumb for signs of green…nothing yet.”

1. d-ann

   Wow! I love all the photos :)

2. d-ann

   Wow! I love all the photos :) and lemon and lime trees, I would love to have one each. Don’t know if I could grow them in the cold north.

3. Bonnie

   I just planted dwarf bananna trees 5 of them.My purple hull peas are almost time to pick, and i can’t even get the tomatoes in the house…hehe…I can’t help myself I just pick, wipe, eat in that order.

4. Mandy

   Awesome! I think if I had blueberry bushes I would have the most trouble keeping Emma out of them. The birds would be no match for her! That kid loves blueberries!

5. mary

   Wow! This is all so great. Can’t wait to see some pictures of the lemons and limes…yum!

6. Shannon

   Yeah he is going to ban me from your website. I got to put up a bunny fence. Got any ideas?

7. mamalang

   I want to come spend the summer at your house.

8. Dad

   Mrs. OMSH … Bees make honey. Your own hive, think about it. All you will need then are the biscuits. You already have eggs, now berries for jam, and with honey … oh wait, there’s bacon. Forgot about that. And milk??????

9. Natalie

   Chicken snake?
   Please explain *chicken snake.* My “beejeebies” are getting nervous!

10. Mrs. Wilson

    mmm … I LOVE fresh backyard fruit. The house I grew up in had all sorts of goodies in the back yard (apples, plums, cherries, raspberries, rhubarb, pears) I hope to have something like that again for my kids.

    Looks great!

11. Carole

    Awesome!! but…..

    Dont you all ever just rest???

12. michelle

    How cool is that!? I might have to try a blueberry bush someday…when we have our own house again.

13. lace

    Those are some of the things I would love to have in my yard. Blueberries, Lemons, and Limes. I’ve also been wanting some asparagus.

    I will just have to make do with the black raspberries along the fence. They go great with vanilla ice cream

14. Mr. OMSH

    DAD–city ordinance prevents us from having our own bacon-making animals (you know, Jewish town, unclean animal…yada-yada). We’ll supply the eggs, you supply the milk. Deal?

    SHANNON–bunny fence? Wait, let’s back up. Is your husband wanting to bar you from this website because you are suddenly coming up with a lot of ‘honey-do’ ideas/projects? If that’s the case, learn the fine art of husband manipulation. I’ve been told it works.

    ok, back to bunny fence. I have no idea. I would try using a .22 short rifle, especially if you’re in town. Email me if you need to learn how to clean and cook a cute little fuzzy bunny. And know ahead of time…they do not taste like chicken. Trust me on this one.

15. Mr. OMSH

    DEAREST PETA MEMBERS;

    The above comment was a joke.

    Bunnies do taste like chicken.

16. OMSH

    I am in no way associated or in agreement with the comments made by Mr. OMSH referring to bunnies.

    Unfortunately, I haven’t done research on bunny fences; Mr. OMSH is allergic to them. He breaks out in terrible hives - hence the SEVERE AVERSION and SARCASM.

17. Mr. OMSH

    Seriously…

    We haven’t done it yet, but OMSH and I have discussed building a fence using hardware cloth (square-holed fencing thicker/tougher than chicken wire) that is partly cemented into the ground about 6 inches (using bagged concrete) and the portion above ground is stapled or nailed to the wooden fence.

18. Stefani

    Limes and lemons and BLUEBERRIES????
    I’ll be on the next bus! Make mine a mojito with a side of blueberry pie, okay?

19. JackieW.

    Mr. O is allergic to bunny fences ?

20. OMSH

    JackieW. - bwahaha - nope, just the bunnies. Although, he got over his sarcasm and made a suggestion above. :~)