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I'm already having second thoughts about how I did stuff, but considering this is only my second time doing this, I am granting myself lots of grace!

Planted this year: tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, delicata squash, bell peppers, carrots, peas, lettuce, arugula. Peas and carrot are probably going to be a bust because I planted them too late. I've already got some small green tomatoes, some tiny bell peppers, cilantro, and lettuce. I also waited too long to put my tomato cages on, so that was a tricky thing to deal with!

My three-year old grandson came over today and did his cursory inspection! He ate some lettuce straight from the plant and gave his approval (then had to pick more to give me some). He also sneakily picked one of the tiny bell peppers, and took a bite out of it - it must have been bitter (it was about walnut size) because he dropped it - he typically eats bell peppers of all colors with his meals.

See doorbell cam post on this thread. Guessing that trying any veggies is gonna be pointless with that wildlife crew.

Once about 5 years ago I planted kale. I mean a deer salad bar. I was bragging about what great kale I had to pick the next day. Looked out and bambis mom had just taken the last bite of all the kale in two 4 foot by 4 foot raised beds
Ugh

Next year it’s gonna be a big huge eyesore fence with hardware cloth enclosure (sorry furry crew). This year it’s gonna be the farmers market.

We have a roma and big boy tomato plants. The Sage and Lemon Balm returned again. Cilantro, dill, basil, rosemary and oregano have been staples for years. Potatoes (2x2box), squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins are relatively new additions. Green onions started from bottoms. Sunflowers plus added an oxide sunflower plant and milkweed bush to the area. Not very large garden as the total space is 12' x 12', but we do have a lil bit of a lot. Biggest challenge was swapping out the failing 4'x 8' raised bed for three 2x4 raised beds. Have to replace the surrounding fence next year, so I may carve out more space so we can do some larger stands of vegetables like beans and corn.

Once about 5 years ago I planted kale. I mean a deer salad bar. I was bragging about what great kale I had to pick the next day.

There's a 1500 acre nature preserve almost directly across the street. The back yard fence is 6.5 feet tall, so they only hang out in the front and back sections of the yard.

[This message edited by grubs at 3:04 PM, Thursday, June 12th]

I only popped a couple pepper plants in this year and in beds next to the house. Picked my first one 2 days ago. The dmn deer have ate all my fancy Lilly bids and day Lilly buds this week. So so frustrated second year in a row them getting them. We have a doe that had twins last year so I'm sure its them, gonna move camera to catch them with the ones that have a light that comes on with movement.

Tush, so sorry about the lily heist. It’s so disheartening.

It would be comical if it wasn’t so damaging to the landscaping, but multiple times a day now the doorbell cam to alert about delivery picks up this now giant rabbit, a fast moving squirrel, several deer etc coming to the door to eat hosta. The rabbit is so fat now that the cam identifies it as a "person".

I am very excited about mine! We had traveled continuously for a couple of years and when we got back had to start from scratch on a home. This was complicated by the fact we bought a home that needed almost everything redone. So last summer I managed just some tomatoes, peppers, chives, and basil.

This year I have two huge raise beds and several 5 gallon pots. I have three types of potatoes, carrots, lettuce, cilantro, radish, basil, some regular and cherry tomato’s, sqaush, cucumber, watermelons, beans, one pumpkin vine, strawberries, and raspberries. I also planted a plot of land with a few thousand zinnias and probably 30 or 40 sunflower plants.

I am in heaven! I also planted a lot of perennials and buses this year because the yard was devoid of any real landscaping. I have goals for next year but I feel like I have bitten off enough for the time being.

I am not sure you will have problems with the carrots. Should be plenty of time yet to get harvests in those. I plant new ones like every 3 weeks, and lettuce every two. I put some of that in the part my trellis will shade some of the day but my cucumbers are not big enough yet to make shade.

I am crazy but having a blast!

[This message edited by hikingout at 4:15 PM, Monday, June 16th]

Number4, we are learning there are no right or wrong answers, and each year is different. It’s a surprise every time, from what germinates, to thrives, to give us too much or dies in a flash, or self seeds everywhere.

Hiking, I had a lovely flower garden last year like yours, with hundreds of zinnias, and 50 or so giant sunflowers, plus huge Mexican sunflowers. I added dahlia bulbs, coneflower and yarrow, and my neighbor gave me splits of canna lillies. Daisies are everywhere, and I have added a wide variety of flowers from seed to see what I can grow.

Since I broke my foot in March and am just taking baby steps now, I had to just watch what nature did this year and it was lovely seeing how much came back on its own, or grew itself from seed. My champagne colored hollyhocks are gorgeous and the native purple passion flowers are invading all the beds. The local university was selling pollinator garden seeds and I spread them in several places last year and am now loving the coneflowers, black eyed Susan’s, butterfly and milk weed and bee balm. It is chaos, but a riot of color and I have so many beautiful butterflies all season.

We have a dome greenhouse, three raised beds, and a few twelve foot rows in the ground for potatoes and tomatoes. My husband has done all the work this year while I have watched and handed him seeds and suggestions. It is nice to begin harvesting his three months of hard work. We had a pile of garlic and onions, and are nearing the end of the pea harvest. Every year we wish for more peas, both snap and shell. We are still harvesting many kinds of lettuce and just finished the broccoli harvest. We have cucumber going inside and out, as well as tomatoes, mostly cherries and a few plums. The plums don’t do as well as the cherries, and they are aggressive volunteers that become huge sprawling plants, but we have cherry tomatoes for months. We are growing a variety of peppers, inside the dome and in the raised beds. We have a strawberry patch, and loads of 5 gallons buckets with carrots and potatoes in them. We are still in our learning curve figuring out what thrives best inside the dome and what does better outside. Even in the raised beds fenced in, we battle the birds and bugs for the crops. They love the tomatoes, corn, and the watermelons. We are learning how to protect the harvest so we get our share.

We can’t get a decent squash crop no matter what we try, and herb gardens beyond basil struggle for some reason. I can’t get spinach to grow either. We seem to grow peppers the easiest here, and cucumbers until they get wilt. We have a struggling orange tree, and a lemon that gives us a dozen or so lemons a year. The blossoms smell heavenly.

We tried a few hydroponics systems, but they are much harder to produce a decent crop, at least for us. Weather is such a huge variable and we are struggling with a few ground crops due to excess rain. We have a 10 x 10 corn patch and this year looks pretty sad this year, and last year was a bumper crop. It’s a mystery, and an adventure. We will be learning for years to come. And enjoying eating all the fresh stuff.

We freeze, dehydrate and freeze dry what we can’t eat or give away. Since we started this garden adventure we have improved our diets in such healthy ways. Tonight is wonton soup and lettuce wraps, with most of the ingredients home grown. It’s my favorite part.

Happy gardening, and I hope the weather is kind to you wherever you are. Gardening is great therapy.