The Enabling Cook

Dern Varmints and the Prison Garden

The other morning I went out to build another trellis in my back garden. When I had checked it a few days before, my lima beans were ready to start climbing. Rain had kept me out of the garden until then.

Unfortunately, the rain had not deterred every living creature from visiting the garden. As I got closer to the garden, it became clear that something was “off.” There didn’t seem as much green as I’d noticed from the parking lot just a few days before. And then I saw it. Or rather, I didn’t see it, and that was the problem. Where there had been a nice row of leafy lima bean plants, it was now bare. Well, there were a few plants left, but they were leafless. I had already set up a trellis for my green beans, and they were gone too. Oddly, the cucumber plants that shared the green bean trellis hadn’t been touched.

This was my first attempt at growing beans at the home garden, and I was really looking forward to having fresh ones so close at hand. I do still have some green bean plants at the other plots. I wasn’t sure whether I should try and replant the beans, but I did go ahead and replant a few green beans. I replaced the other beans with cucumber plants.

But that wasn’t the only thing I did. I have turned my home garden into a prison.

Excuse the bad cell phone photo. You can see the original trellis. What you can’t really see is the chicken wire fence going around three sides of the garden. I had a fence up, but it was obviously too short. You can also kind of see bird netting over the garden. I had some of that up before, too.

I’m hopeful the new fence will keep out the dern varmints so I have a successful garden. There are some things growing well. See.

Beside the garden I have potatoes growing. Three are in bags that have Velcro flaps through which you can pick your potatoes. This makes the bags reusable, and I’m all for that. The other one is a two container system. When the potatoes are ready for picking, you simply pick up the inner pot and pick to your heart’s content. It’s also reusable, but it uses a non-soil planting medium. I believe it’s the type made from coconut husks.

I really hope this garden and the plots I have in the same community garden as I had last year prosper. I’m not so confident about my plot in the new community garden. The soil has a lot of clay, and we just got compost to add. Of course, it’s not the optimal time, as it can be hard to remember where seeds are that haven’t yet sprouted. Before I planted, I did add some better soil, but I’m thinking it’s not enough. We’ll see.

#Canningchat
If you’re interested in canning, check out #canningchat on Twitter. It’s held the second Tuesday of the month (this means tomorrow, June 12) at 9 p.m. EDT. It’s informative and fun. Plus, it’s a great way to touch base and exchange information with other canners. And it doesn’t matter what your skill level is. If this is going to be your first year to can or you’ve been canning for decades, there’s something for you!

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