In the Garden

Vegetable garden notes this week:

Lettuce, lettuce. lettuce. So much lettuce. We are eating salads for lunch and dinner and it tastes delicious. While some of the spinach is nearly done, the red leaf and butter crunch are still going strong. I'm going to leave the kale for a bit and let the heads get a little fuller...

The beets are going strong...

We lost a few broccoli and cauliflower plants to the jumpy squirrel, which just means that next year we will definitely be building a wire fence around the garden to keep the rascal out.

One other nuisance that we did not see coming was the birds. I put toilet paper rolls around my leeks (to increase the white portion of the plant) and the birds have been taking the rolls off the plants and tossing them out of the garden. I have watched them from the kitchen window, ran outside to scare them off, replaced the rolls, and by the time I am back in the house, the birds are back to their destructive behavior. I decided to forget about the toilet tubes and just mound the dirt around the leeks instead; hopefully this does the trick.

While the tomato plants are growing tall, there are still no tomatoes on them. It has been very wet and much cooler than normal which I suspect to be the reason for this....or I just need to be more patient...

Having a garden and experiencing the influence of the weather and various critters on the growth of the plants has certainly given me a greater appreciation for farmers and the perils inherent in farming. And made me that much more appreciative of the availability of fresh produce in my community....