My little vegetable garden

My little vegetable garden is humming right along. I've had to water it frequently because we haven't had a good rain storm in a few weeks.

See that little fella there? That's my First Cuke of 2016. It has grown considerably since I took its photo a few days ago. I'll be picking it soon. I only hope it and I make it into the house, where I can share it with Ken. Last year, I'm ashamed to admit, I ate the first cuke while walking to the house. Ken was none the wiser.

I plant 18 tomato plants each June. The planting is quite a ritual: Into each deep hole I place some cut-up banana peels, crushed egg shells, an aspirin, some Epsom salt, some coffee grounds and, if I have them on hand, some shrimp shells. I cover this mess with some soil, then I place the tomato seedling as deep into the hole as it will go, with many of its lower leaves below ground level. Sometimes I lay the seedlings on their sides, with only the top of the plant above ground. This entire ritual makes for healthy, happy, robust tomato plants. I spray the plants with an Epsom salt solution on the day of planting, then I spray them ten days later. This increases the yield from each plant. In late August/early September I'm madly canning tomatoes, roasting tomatoes for tomato sauce, making relish, making dynamites, you name it. I love tomatoes and we eat them in one form or another all winter. I've often thought that if Ken didn't like tomatoes, our marriage could not have lasted these 46 years.

Here we have my green pepper plants, also sprayed with the Epsom salt solution, and some just-planted beets. The yield I get from the pepper  plants has increased dramatically since I started the Epsom salt treatment.

Oh, in the top photo, see the wash tub turned upside down? Under it is a radio which plays 24/7. We have deer lurking just on the other side of the woods line, so we try to keep the radio tuned to a station they're sure to dislike.

I also place bags of human hair (Ken's, which I cut and save throughout the year) and shredded soap on posts throughout the garden. Periodically I sprinkle blood meal around the garden's perimeter. Deer don't like the smell of human hair, strong soap, or blood meal. In addition to all of that, I make a deer deterrent solution: Blend well two eggs and two cups of milk (I use water and dry milk powder), then add a few drops of Dawn dish detergent. (Do NOT add the soap into the blender. Been there, done that, had soap bubbles all over the kitchen counter.) Place in spray bottle and head to your garden....)

Here are my cucumber, zucchini, and butternut squash hills. I started all of these plants from seeds in late March/early April. I also plant lettuce and kale for our fresh summer salads. I add a zucchini or two to many of my tomato/spaghetti sauces and no one knows the difference; we love roasted potatoes and butternut squash in the fall. Roasting brings out a delicious sweetness in the squash. Just toss cut-up potatoes and squash in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast. Really, really tasty.

(The marigold plants spaced here and there are also helping to deter the deer.)

And this is Ken's potato patch. He became a gentleman potato farmer about four years ago. He grows the potatoes in what used to be my vegetable garden space, and he has great luck with them. He now harvests enough potatoes to last us from September to May. I bought my first bag of potatoes for this year just two weeks ago.

So that's my little vegetable garden. I enjoy it so much and can't wait to get out to it each morning.