today's haul

i quietly abandonded my garden in the field a few months ago...the drought killed most everything, and what didnt die was neatly trimmed of all fruits by the deer or infested with one kind of insect or another. i hate giving up on anything, but the fact that i am the only gardener up there not using multiple pesticides and chemicals combined with only once-a-week maintanence of the plot makes for no food: thank god for farmer o'bier's or we would have starved! luckily, my little square foot garden rocked the earth and has provided me with a little something every day. today, i got the last of the ripe pear tomatoes, some of the gazillion green beans planted, a few more mini banana peppers and an eggplant to roast. smaller is indeed better, in this case!

square foot gardening

inspired by my post below and discouraged by the state of my large vegetable garden, i started a square foot garden last friday with twenty spaces: arugula, beets, some peppers and swiss chard have already popped up! maybe this will work!

what vegetables should i plant in july?

my vegetable garden is in shambles...again. it has been the second driest july since records have been kept. i missed two weekends of maintanance: the bugs ate the potatoes to skeletal form; i guess the actual potatoes dried up due to lack of water; the deer ate the 'bright lights' swiss chard; the onions and leeks look ok, but they are ensconced in weeds; i had mulched the tomatoes, so no weeds, but the deer trimmed all their new growth; i cant find my sweet potatoes. one surprise, though: i have two very large 'moon and stars' heirloom watermelons! the mister wants to abandon the whole project. i have done this too long, however, and am unwilling to give up! so...i am going to try and salvage this growing season by planting some fall crops right now: i have a whole box of unused seeds. i need some help and inspiration, though. found some on youtube (of course!) via gardengirltv. she has some great ideas and makes it sound do-able. back to the field!