Veggie Garden

This spring, when the snow finally melted, my husband and I built a raised vegetable bed. Actually, I made it, but he carried some of the wood and handed me the drill when asked. I like building and putting things together so this works out. We filled it with a combination of bagged compost and bagged topsoil with some slow release fertilizer mixed in. SInce I built the bed with cedar and we purchased all the soil for it, we aren't really saving any money on vegetables this season.

We put in some seeds and hoped for the best! It was already kind of late in the season, so I bought potted tomatoes from the garden center. I am amazed at how well the zucchini is doing! I harvested some last week and gave most of them away.

The zucchini is so happy, it has taken over and covered up the lettuces and the strawberries. I think I need to make a second vegetable bed! Our beans never got larger than about 3 inches. I think rabbits feed on them every day. We also have some chives and some carrots. The corn seems to be doing okay. Despite the fact that my entire extended family is from Iowa, I really don't know much about growing corn.

This is our first year trying this sort of garden. Next year I'm going to do lettuces in a separate small bed. Some of the varieties get really bitter as they mature but are delicious in the early stages. I also will plant more nasturtium because I love them and some of those little orange flowers that keep the rabbits away. I forget what they are called. I grow herbs in pots that are right outside my patio doors. I used to have a patch of mint, but that turned into an entire bed of mint and then part of a lawn of mint, so now I grow that in a pot too. Fresh mint on a dessert is a delicious touch.