Tuesday, June 14, 2011

There's a saying in the square foot gardening book...


I'm happy to share, but this is getting ridiculous.  Last week I noticed our beautiful vine-ripening tomatoes hanging, half-eaten and bleeding like something out of a horror movie.  They seem to be feeding a family of birds, mice, rabbit, squirrels something with sharp claws or maybe a beak.  

So on Sunday I enlisted, meaning paid, my teenage son, Ray and his buddy, Riley to come out to the garden and help me create a barrier between our fruit and their fangs.  We ran steel cable from the tops of the trellis down to the foot of the beds and draped netting held down with upholstery tacks.  

Stephanie and Nico joined in on the fun.  

Not the most professional execution, but I was out at the garden this evening and apart from a few pecks on a outward lying tomato, it seems to be holding.

Any other ideas for keeping critters away from the garden?  

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Our first CUCUMBER!

I have tried to grow cucumbers in my own garden for 2 years.  The vines shoot up and the cutest little micro-cucumbers begin to form, I get super excited, thinking of the tzatziki and crunchy salads we'll be enjoying soon, only to find a day or two later, the fruit is shriveled and with it my culinary dreams.

This started happening in the community garden.  I believe it has something to do with pollination?, (Kirby and Dick, feel free to chime in with an educated explanation), but today I found the most beautiful 4-5"cuc on it's way to edibility!  The trellis is working great, supporting beans, cucumber vines and our very large and productive tomato plants.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Full disclosure

Took a stroll out to the garden last night after a long day.  It was dusk and the wind was blowing and as usual, could feel my blood pressure drop as I passed through the playground and headed towards our green little sanctuary.

The beans are climbing with a vengeance up the bamboo teepees.  There's several varieties of tomatoes that so far, the squirrels are leaving alone, and the peppers and eggplant are ready for the picking.  Speaking of picking, I was marveling at our apple-sized cantaloupes and thought I'd just give mother nature a hand and turn one so it wouldn't get an unsightly "bedsore" and was surprised to see that the fruit was not attached to the vine.    I went to the next plant and realized that just the tiniest movement of the fruit separated the second one as well.   I'm so sorry!  I'm a bull in a baby cantaloupe nursery.

Anyone want to come over friday night for cantaloupe mojitos???