The Veggie Garden

Ah, June brings warm weather (ish), which brings many vegetables. I usually start my seeds (bought from Vesey's and the local garden center) at the beginning of March in my little plastic greenhouse in the sunroom. Come May, I dance around impatiently waiting to plant them outside. This year I planted them during the long weekend (which was early this year for some reason) and kept them safe during frost warning nights with an old sheet. As I usually overdo it and plant way too many tomato seeds (90 last year, but only 60 this year) I managed to lose some due to frost anyway and actually had to go buy ten from the garden center (you never can be too sure) and plant them. What you are looking at is: the front box is beans, the left front box is peas, as is the one behind it, the front right box is tomatoes and a ton of radish seeds mixed with carrots (I have yet to see carrot leaves), behind that, more beans, and to the right in the long boxes are 4 different kinds of onions (red, sweet, multipliers (green) and leeks) and another box of tomatoes and tomatillos.

Here, you can see some fabulous bamboo 'fencing' I put up for my peas and beans. I purchased some 4' bamboo in a package ($2.49 from Home Depot) and a ball of jute. I grabbed my trusty hammer and lightly tapped each end into the ground as far as it could go. Because of my huge Chinese Elm in the back left corner, they only went down about 5" before they hit roots.

Then, I crossed the tops in a 'V' and gently laid a thinner bamboo pole and using the jute, wrapped it tightly, adding many knots and winding around the whole thing in many different, creative ways.

Then I tied more jute around each pole and stretched it across to another pole. This makes little 'stairs' for the pea plants to climb. And of course I gently guide them to go the right way and not strangle each other.

My tomato plants were given special attention this year. I always have problems with cutworms. Cutworms are gross little worms that hide in your soil and in the middle of the night, they chop down your plants, right at the base by the soil, leaving your poor plant just lying there, decapitated. And the only way to get rid of these little buggers is to dig up around the soil of the next plant beside the decapitated one, pull it out and kill it. Yech. I know that copper wire mesh keeps away snails and slugs, so I thought I'd try it on the cutworms instead of surrounding each individual plant with a can. I don't eat canned foods, so I don't have cans. Especially not 60 cans.

Sadly, I cannot grow broccoli, cauliflower, (too much work), cucumbers (they just don't grow!), or peppers (they make me very ill). But I have lots of advice on them, so if you have any, just ask!