Ticks and Trellises

I am fed up with ticks. I don't know if I'm traipsing them in from the garden, if the dog is bringing them in, if they're availing themselves of our home by their own volition or what, but they have got to go.

I don't recall ever having ticks on me before, but I've had five lovelies this past month who have sunk their piercing jaws into me, held on, and wouldn't let go for love or money. I've found one on the boy, the man's had two and tonight, we found one on my mother that she obviously picked up at our house (No, Mom, I wrote it and deleted it three times. I'm not going to tell them where it was although now I'm sure they can all guess).

I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm going to call and talk to our bug man tomorrow. There's not much he can do if they're hitching a ride on us from the outside in, but what if they've started their own commune or love nest or whatever. I'm highly irritated. Every time my hair brushes the back of my neck or something the like, I immediately think, "TICK!" and jump around waving my arms like I'm fighting a pterodactyl. The boy has even asked me to stop grooming him like a chimpanzee.

*sigh*

So what do I do to calm down? Go out to the garden, what else? :)

I planted another set of pole beans where the bush cucumbers and purple beans were in the side yard.

I was just going to let them sprawl all over the place, but I found these two short trellises 50% off, so I snagged them. They'll at least allow them a little height. Yes, I need to straighten up that yellow pear tomato. I'm thinking of running a line from the top of the retaining wall to hold it up.Speaking of which....This location gets really, really good sun all year, but it directly faces my neighbor's house, so I've tried to keep it tame, but I'd love to put a real trellis here for beans and peas. Questions: will beans/peas climb single lines or does it have to be mesh? Here's my thoughts. I could double up a few lengths of stringing by looping it around the top rail and securing the loose ends to the box. Now, I couldn't go straight down because that would be too close to the wall, but those boxes are only 2 ft wide. If I brought them down and secured them to the front of the box, it would give a slight slope to the line. I'm thinking individual string would be less unsightly and easily covered by the vines than full blown trellis weave.

Does it sound like it would work? Can you even envision it? If I can find a way to trellis this area simply when needed, I wouldn't have to erect an entire huge stand alone trellis for my other corner yard box.

While you're mulling that over, look back to the picture and then to the tomato bushes on the right. Do you see him?

Yup! There he is. Much happier, tucked away in his safe home. We're about to have our first thunderstorm since he came here. I know it's silly, but I want to go and bring him inside.

The morning comes early. Dream about that trellis idea for me, okay?