My Box is Blooming!

This spring marks my third attempt at a kitchen garden. My first effort was somewhat successful. I cleared a 10x12 foot area under my kitchen window and did a little row planting. At that time, I did very little soil amending, and was very haphazard about sowing seeds. The harvest that year consisted of green beans, basil, and a random tomato.

The second spring I planted in raised beds. Unbeknownst to me, the saplings that I cut down the previous spring were in fact peach trees. They grew back all crazy like, and shaded the crap out of my raised boxes!! Most of the boxes sprouted, but the slugs were relentless. The only things we ate out of the boxes were cucumbers, basil, and parsley. The tomatoes came late, and the tomatillos even later. I got discouraged by the over-shading, and abandoned the darn thing!

This year, I swore I would give it one last honest try. I moved the boxes onto the gravel area right outside our kitchen door. It gets just enough shade in the morning for cooler crops, and the afternoon offers plenty of sunlight for the hotties. The peach trees are back, and well out of the way of my boxes. I planted a strawberry patch, with arugula and lettuce, at the base of the trees.





Everything is doing well, minus the drive-by squirrel digging. I draped some nylon mesh to keep those suckers out! I can't wait to start harvesting.