Garden Update

The garden has been going great...or perhaps I should say had been.  I thought I had adequately protected the crops with my ~10-inch high mini-fence around each of my boxes.  Sadly, I failed to realize rabbits can jump.  Silly me.  I realized this when we got back from a weekend in the mountains and my entirely broccoli crop was decimated.  I first thought it must be hail damage.  However, nothing else was damaged, and then I noticed unmistakeable proof:  rabbit droppings.  And not just a small number of them.  I looked around, and they were everywhere--in the boxes, outside the boxes, on every level.  The rabbits had themselves a little party.  To combat the rabbits, I worked diligently to set up some fine plastic mesh running around the entire length of the garden, and I also sealed up the space under the gate.  I think this worked...although Joey thought he'd have some fun with the plastic, so he proceeded to chew up a good section of it, destroying a good portion of my work (d*mn dog).

Despite my troubles with the animals (feral and domestic), the garden is producing.  First up is a picture of my peas and corn.  They are growing great--I've had a couple pea-pods, and they are very sweet and delicious.  Perhaps next week we'll pick a whole bowl full for dinner.  No corn yet, but I do see some tiny stalks starting to form on some of the bigger plants.

I think peas would grow as high as their support would let them.  I have a couple plants that are almost as tall as me.  Next up are my tomatoes, more corn, pumpkins, and peppers (although I think the pepper plants are buried in the shade of the tomatoes).

The biggest corn plant is the plant Bode started in school in a tiny plastic cup.  I plan on doing this next year--no sense waiting until late summer to eat corn!  There are nine or ten tomatoes growing, and some pepper buds.  I had forgotten how much room pumpkins need--I think the vines are making their way out of the garden.  The fruit is also going well, although I don't know if we'll get anything other than strawberries.

There are twelve strawberries growing...but it's hard to say how many will make it.  I don't know if bugs get to them or worms or what.  I put some netting over them (in addition to the netting over the entire garden).  The big plants are sunflowers.  They should bloom in the next couple weeks.  No fruit from the blueberries or raspberries, but I figured it would be a few years before they produced anything.  Finally, the lettuce, broccoli (what's left of it), carrots, and onions.  All are doing superb.

We had some yard work done a couple weeks ago.  We had a rock wall installed just beneath the garden and added a nice stone staircase.  We think it looks pretty good.  We aren't sure what we'll put down beneath the wall--maybe a patio or some type of fire pit or a water feature.  Plans are still being kicked around.

We will probably put some type of plants along the top of the wall--maybe more raspberries...but that area seems to be a favorite place where the dogs run, so we aren't sure what to do.  Note the trees towards the middle of the third picture.  Sadly, two of our three trees seem dead.  The plum tree and the cherry tree were budding up beautifully in May, but then we had a hard frost and major hail storm.  The apple tree survived and is thriving.  The experts told me to wait until next spring before declaring them lost causes, as there are still shoots coming up from the trees' roots.  Here's hoping.  Finally, a picture of the yard from our rock patio.  It looks amazingly different than three years ago when we bought the house.

I'm taking the entire week off from work--not even going to check my email.  Should be nice and relaxing.  Pleasant week to all.