Dear Deer, Leave me alone.

Some deer hopped the fence and devoured most of my corn. Oh well. Here's some pics from about a week ago.

More stuff to eat.

Beans and cucumbers (pickling as we speak).

Buttered & grilled.

Chef Kell grilled up the green beans with a filet of some sort. A couple months of work for 15 minutes of eatin'. Tasted great though. Should be getting a batch a week for a few months.

Saw a couple pumpkins starting underneath the big leaves. Bring em' on. Corn seems to be stuck at the same height, or maybe they're growing slower than I expected. May be a sun thing.

Waitin' on that cucumber, probably pick it next week. Should have plenty more after that.

The first side dish.

Finally something to snack on.


An out-of-focused tomato. Perhaps it could use some more fish emulsion.


Big ole tasty pickle.


Pre-picked green beans.

The pumkin flower.

The pumpkin plants, (which seem to be growing a foot a day) have begun to flower.


Should I make a cornfield maze?


We're getting there.

Six Six Oh Seven.

Did some weeding. Have been putting that off for a week or so. We finally got some nice downpours. I feel like I talk about rain a lot on here... isn't that what gardeners are supposed to do? I don't know.


This is the fastest grower of my pumpkin plants.


Added a homemade cucumber trellis (bottom right).


Climbin' Cukes.


From left to right: Corn, tomatoes, peppers.

A lily for Billy.

Kelly's lilies are looking nice, despite the nasty Spring drought.

One Month Later.

Cucumber

Pumpkin

Tomato and Pepper

Carrots

Beans

Corn

A maize ingly e-nuff.

Did some weedin'. Carrots are finally coming up, so are the rows of corn and a handful of sunflowers.

The cucumber plant and a couple pumpkins are definitely growing strong.

The tomato and bell pepper plants haven't looked liked they have done much in the week that I've planted them. I'm not quite sure this plot has ample enough sunlight. I do have my eye on a part of my yard that would work perfectly for a garden next year.

Sowed the final rows of green beans. They should all reach harvest maturity at different times now. I can only eat so many beans at once.

Puxatony Phil.

Here's the groundhog that lives under the shed a mere 15 feet from my garden. We have an understanding. I pay him on time every month, he stays out of my garden.

I find one carrot missing, his ass is mine.

Finally.

Alas, we finally have some rain.

Mother's Day.

Best weather of the year so far. We sure can use some rain though.

Kelly and I went to a couple farmer's markets and bought some perennials for her flowerbeds. We bought some perennial seeds, too. Might as well save a buck and try growing our own.

I bought a cool Park's Whopper sweet bell pepper plant and a Supersonic tomato plant and transplanted them. I also added a couple more bags of manure and hummus compost to the soil that doesn't have any plants yet.

I had to sow new seeds in two or three pumpkin mounds. I added more compost and garden soil... maybe that will help them out more.


Flash guards the gates


Sweet bell peppers


Supersonic tomatoes


'Jack 'O Lantern' pumpkins


Rows of corn.

It's getting dark out.

Here are the bush been plants. The cucumber plants are growing up the pole... kinda.

The prodigal sun.

Out in the garden, I sowed about three rows of corn, two rows of sunflowers, and two rows of carrots.

I also went ahead and planted the seedlings that I sowed indoors on Monday. It may be a bit premature, but I'm interested in seeing if they'll tough it out.

One of the pumpkin spouts died off... I'll have to buy another pack of seeds. I am a bit worried about the maximum sunlight requirement.

Cukes still look strong.

I am the gate keeper.

Finally added a front gate to the rabbit fencing. Went ahead and added some leaf compost and worked the soil a little more... I may be attracting weeds by doing this.

Beans and Cukes look like they're doing okay. Unfortunately, I don't think my garden gets full sun for much of the day. There are some damn big trees around here.

Had to throw out the corn spouts... they weren't going to survive a transplant. I also threw out the indoor-sowed sunflower seedlings, too.

Get in the ground.

Okay, I got anxious again. The bush beans I sowed on April 26 looked like they weren't going to last much longer in their starter pellets so I transplanted them to the garden. I went ahead and planted the three sunflower spouts, too.

I also bought two store-started Straight 8 Cucumber plants and planted them. Gave 'em a pole to climb, too.

Also gave them some vegetable and plant food and topped off the new plants and pumpkins with topsoil.

Dad's B-day.

Decided to go ahead and plant the pumpkin sprouts, hope they make it. I also went ahead and sowed some more seeds indoors. Cucumbers, bush beans, and corn.

Bought some carrot seeds, decided to follow the directions and save them to be sowed outside once it gets consistently warmer.

Sprayed the outer perimeter of the garden with Bonide Shotgun... a nasty smelling deer and rodent repellent.

Here comes some rain.

• Did the last of the "backbreaking" work for now... I think. Tilled up the quadrants and tried to remove every last weed and root.
• Saw about five pumpkins seeds come in that were sowed outdoors. They look stronger than the ones I started indoors, but not as tall.
  
• The pumpkin mounds have too much clay. I hope the roots can break through.
• All the indoor seedlings are doing really well. The tallest and strongest looking are the bush beans, followed by the pumpkins, then corn, then three miserable looking sunflower seedlings.
• The very second I finished up for the day, a nice rainfall came down.
  

Good fences make good neighbors.

Bought a rabbit fence at Lowes and put it up in about 20 minutes. Pretty easy. Followed up with some minor weeding. Should be easy to put a gate in.

I am the grass man.

Cut the grass and put the clippings in each of the quadrants. Should rain tonight or tomorrow.

The first day of May.

The seedlings are really coming up. I pulled the weaker of the seedlings out of each pellet.

Yes, Deer.

Saw some hoof prints this morning left by deer. I haven't planted anything yet!

I am the strawman.

Seeds are all in their little pellets, only a few beans have peaked out of the soil.

Bought four bails of straw and mulched the walkways and entrance. Added some extra topsoil.

I still need to get rid of some roots and weeds in the quadrants. Too many roots.

PH balancing and indoor sowing.

Rained a bit today. Bought a PH and Fertilizer testing kit. I tested the garden soil and it read around 5.5 to 6, I may have to add some gypsum... maybe some gypsies, too.

The fertilizer test is pretty ideal, which is cool.

Bought some seed kits and started sowing pumpkin, corn, bush bean, and sunflower seeds.

I'm still not exactly sure what I'm going to grow in each quadrant, mostly just improvising here.

Seeds sowed at 9:30 p.m.

• "Mammoth" Organic Sunflowers
• "Jack 'O Lantern" Pumpkins
• Blue Lake 274 Bush Beans
• "Morning Star" Sweet Corn

And sow it begins...

You'll be getting a lot of irritating puns from me.

Removed all weeds, grass, sticks, etc. and formed a rectangular plot that is about 18'x24'. Then I took a hoe and hand-tilled the dirt, added fertilizer, manure, and hummus compost.

The large rectangle is divided into four quadrants with a straw mulched walkway that forms a 'crossroads' in between them.

Outside the rectangle, there are two rows of pumpkin mounds (15 mounds total).