End of July 2012 Great Organic Garden Update

Well, here we in the middle of our summer growing season 2012.
The harvest this year has been better than any growing season in my garden ever!  The key has been my covered garden!  This year I completely covered my vegetable garden with chicken wire and kept our wild animal friends from entering my garden and eating my food!  My first post on this blog showed a picture of my crude attempt at constructing a chicken wire cover, and crude it might be, but it worked!   Next year I will be making the garden higher to accommodate the larger growing plants.  The above picture shows the great eggplants and cucumbers harvested today.    The bush beans have been phenomenal this year, but I think we are seeing the few last batches from them.  The yellow cherry tomatoes, red tomatoes, and green peppers have been grown in container pots and have done beautifully. Thanks for checking in!

Yummy Eggplants! First of the season!

Picked white eggplants from my garden this morning, and sacrificed them for our dinner tonight!  Yum!

Composting for Organic Replenishment in the Garden

I am in no way an authority on the subject of composting for your organic garden.  But, it really is not rocket science.  I encourage you to read and learn about composting on more detailed internet sites which will give the process and explain how to build and maintain your compost pile.  There is nothing better for your organic vegetables than the pure, enriched compost soil.  So much in gardening is trial and error, but the reward of chemical free food is worth it!  Happy Composting!

Watermelon Progressing Nicely

The largest of my watermelons this year has decided to position itself comfortably upon a cement paver stone.  I will leave it there for now and see how this decision plays out.  Updates to follow.

A Surpise in My Garden!

I decided to move my container carrots this morning, and lo' and behold, deftly hiding behind them was this sweet cucumber!  Much larger than my other cucumbers growing haphazardly in my covered garden this year, I marvel at nature and the way it is always surprising us.  Gonna eat this baby tonight!

Organically Grown Vegetables Update

Eggplants, Yellow Plum Tomatoes, Bush Green and Wax Beans are harvested along with some small unknown variety of tomato that survived a windstorm which knocked over some of my container garden tomatoes!  I have since anchored the pots to an adjacent fence with bungee cords! 

Baby Watermelons are making some good progress!  

White Eggplants ...........  can't wait to try these babies!

I also have a massive amount of baby cucumbers which I have not grown on a trellis this year.  Trying the "grow on the ground on top of plastic wire fencing to keep off the ground and rotting" method.  Let's see if this works!  Updates to follow.


                             Happy Growing Everyone!

Container Gardening is a great way to grow food!

Container gardening is a great way to grow food!  To keep our wild animal friends from eating our container vegetables, I wrapped them in chicken wire.  It seems to be working, but next year I will be making the chicken wire a removable cage to lift up and off the plant to get easier access.  The extreme heat this year has really taxed the plants and ME, and watering has become an art.  Too little or too much seems to be the key to achieving success with container plants.  I also only use organic soils and food to help those container plants along to produce food all summer.

Vegetable Garden Summer 2012

Due to the deer, rabbits, skunks, squirrels, and birds, I was forced to cover my vegetable garden this year.  Last year I was competing with the wild animals in my neighborhood for the food I put so much hard work and money into to feed myself and family.  There is nothing like coming out to your garden on a beautiful summer morning to see chewed tomatoes and trampled bean plants, or finding that cantaloupe that was growing so wonderfully, GONE!  

Well, this year I constructed a chicken wire cover for the top of my garden which rests on top of two t-bars in the middle of the garden to hold the wire up.  I also anchored the sides with boards I recycled from my junk wood I had on hand.  The  key is to make it accessible by only securing the sides with pieces of wire and twisty  ties and leaving the middle open to be able to enter your garden to tend to the plants.  Also, get the smallest gauge possible on the wire for the sides and top of the garden to keep those precious little rabbits and skunks from consuming your garden gems!
Next year I will making the t-bars higher to accommodate the taller plants and also expanding my garden to GROW MORE FOOD!