Our garden
Posted by Patrick Corkum on April 3, 2010
Last year, we had a great garden. We ended up with tons of cucumbers, hot peppers and tomatoes. However, we planted a few pumpkins and they didn’t really turn out all that great. They were going well and suddenly got diseased and died quite quickly. This year, we are going to try a few different things because of what didn’t work so well last year. Most of my ideas I got from our trip to Williamsburg last year and it just happens to be budget friendly.
Tomatoes
Okay, so last year, we planted a half dozen or so tomato plants. I went and bought a few of these triangular-style tomato cages.The tomatoes did well….too well. The cages crumbled underneath the weight and I ended up trying all kinds of things to keep them standing up. So this year, I am going to try something that I came across in Williamsburg….
Okay, the picture isn’t great, but it is basically an elevated mesh. There are sticks which are holding up a mesh of sticks and the tomatoes grow on top, keeping the tomatoes off the ground and within easy reach. It is quite ingenious if you ask me.
Cucumbers
So last year, we had a great crop of cucumbers and it will be hard to outdo last year. I cannot complain. However, I am trying something different to try and keep the cucumbers off the ground, saving me some space (not that I need it) and keeping them nice and clean. Again, the idea is from Williamsburg:
Okay, again the picture isn’t that great (since it is a crop from the same as the tomatoes). However, I am in the process of building a fence similar to that in the picture, just much longer. I am impressed as to the sticks that the gardener there got, so thin, long and straight. Mine are not nearly as nice, but they should work.
Peas & Beans
Our peas and beans did okay, not great, but not horrible. We ended up not having great success before because of rabbits, but we seem to have resolved that problem with clear plastic SOLO cups. However, we didn’t plant very many and we used a white plastic trellis to grow them up. That part wasn’t so great. So, I got ANOTHER idea from Williamsburg:
Again, same image, so excuse the quality. So, I modified it a little in mine, but I used the same concept. I should’ve probably made it the same, but we’ll see if mine works.
Lettuce
Okay, lettuce failed miserably for us last year…. we got nothing. This is partially because of rabbits, but I am going to try using some hair (no pun intended) to keep them away and use the following idea from Williamsburg:
Okay, different source picture, but same quality problem. Anyway, that picture is probably really confusing. Anyway, what you see is NOT lettuce, it is shade. We are going to use small pine branches to shade the lettuce when it is small so that the sun doesn’t scorch the seedlings. I hope this works, I’d really like to get some lettuce this year. We’ll see!
Peppers
Our peppers did quite well last year. Our habaneros had a small issue with insects, but generally they did well. I did have a problem with keeping them up off the ground. I didn’t have the problem the year before, but last year I certainly did. So, this year… you guessed it, an idea from Williamsburg:
This, although tough to see is like a teepee made from sticks. This helps the pepper grow up and stay straight. If nothing else, it looks cool 
.
Okay, so I’ve got more ideas, but I’ll save them for later…. I love my vegetable garden!
I am envious (did I just admit that?). I recently discovered how much I love gardening but I don’t have this much space. I do container gardening instead.
Stopping by from UBP10,