Sunday, June 12, 2011

Veggie Garden!

Very first veggie from my crop

I'd have to say my favorite part about the new house is the backyard.  When we moved in it was pretty much a mess; overgrown shrubs, shed covered in mold, wildly unruly roses...just to name a few.  For my birthday, Mom and Hunter came and offered a day of labor in the yard to get things under control.  My favorite part of the day was turning the rose-bed into a bonafide vegetable garden that has been thriving.

I wish I had a before picture, but this is a good pic of the veggie garden about a week after we planted.


The only major problem I encountered was the slugs who started munching my lettuce and spinach.  After checking out some other blogs I tried two methods to keep them out.  A 'fence' made of crushed egg-shells and bowls of beer.  The egg-shells allegedly get embedded in their undersides and are uncomfortable enough to keep them out, and the bowls of beer lure the little slimers in and then they drown.  I remember Mom setting out bowls of beer for the slugs when we were little, I also remember going 'slug hunting' after dark with a can of Morton's and salting the ones we spotted with our flashlight.

I found five slugs in the bowls of beer the next morning and the lettuce and spinach have never looked better.  The peas have also really taken off to the point where I needed to stake them and give them room to grow which you can see in the photo below.  Planted a tomato today in a different bed and plan to get some more in the ground tomorrow! (You can also see Rok in the photo below in his typical garden-helper pose...chillin' in the frog jumper and munching on Cheerios)