Monday, July 12th, 2010

We have a small space behind our garage that housed flowers when we first landscaped, but over time they got scrubby and some grass started to take over.  I wanted to see how I would fare at growing some of the vegetables I like to juice.  So I planted cucumbers, red peppers (which turned out to be green) and kale.  Everything seems to be doing just fine, especially the cucumbers.  I know next year to stick to just one plant, not two.  I'm getting too many and it's really taking over the area.  I had put up some rabbit fencing, but something keeps eating the kale (besides the bugs/slugs).  I have checked and double checked to make sure it's tight to the ground.  I have no idea what critter is getting in or how it's getting in there.  All I know is my best kale leaves are disappearing.  I'm going to have to do some research next year to see what I can put on or around the plants to deter the pests and does not include chemicals.  I planted the garden the end of May and this is what it looked like on June 20th.  You can see the size of the garden is not big at all.

I want to expand the garden next year and get rid of the ferns and hostas we have on the other side of the stepping stones, but I'm not sure if Jon would go for it.  For some reason he likes those out of control plants.  This is what the garden looks like now:

Today was the first day that Natalie and Daniel got involved with watering the plants.  When we were back there, a little butterfly kept fluttering around us, landing on the plants, the house, me and finally the back of Daniel's head.  That's when I ran to get the camera, but of course he was clued in to the fact that it was on his head and by the time I got back he had shooed it away.

It's self service around here.  That's the way I like it, and in fact, they like it that way too.  I think it's almost as fun for them to fill the containers as it is to water the plants.

Pretty soon they wandered around to the back of the house and watered the plants back there.  I think every single plant got sprinkled on.  When their cans were empty they would race around to the side of the house to fill them up.  

Even the leaves on the trees got some TLC.  However, it was a group effort.