Pic of my almost weedless garden! Won't happen again....

[CathyA]

I took a pic of my garden, since DH and I weeded it the other day. I figured such a weed-free garden probably won't happen again this summer!
As you can see, I've really gotten into vertical gardening. I have snow peas growing on both ends of the swingset, and then cucs just emerging on one part and Romano pole beans on the other.

On the galvanized electrical conduit trellises, I have Kentucky Blue and Blue Lake pole beans growing. I also have tomatoes in the concrete reinforcing mesh cages (Rutgers, Roma, San Marzano, sweet 100's and sunsugar). Beyond those, I have zuchinni and Waltham butternut squash. Under the swingset, I have an assortment of bell peppers.

I've had to water them every day, as we haven't had rain for at least a month. Hopefully it will rain in the next few days.
Oh......and you can see the new fence we put up in April. I still need to work on the gates. DH did a great job putting up the chicken wire around the bottom.

Now if we can just keep ahead of the weeds, the insects, the dry weather, the wet weather, the hail, the wind, the deer, the raccoons, etc., etc., it will be a good year! :)

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f129/Catherine50/IMG_8771.jpg

[CathyA]

P.S.
At the top of that middle swingset support, there is an opening. This is the second year that a house wren has a nest in there! Must be oh-so-hot in there! Last year I put up an umbrella over it. I might have to do that again. You'd think they'd pic a cooler place. But you have to admit.....its a pretty safe location! I can't believe a nest with babies even fits in there!

[Gregg]

Sweet garden CathyA!!! We are also going vertical this year. Expecting a few hundred pounds of produce out of a 2' x 10' footprint plus a couple other pots. I've become a big fan of that method, especially as my back starts to feel the years when I'm bent over for a long time.

[CathyA]

Thanks Gregg!
I just can't lean over much any more either, so this vertical stuff has been great! Its amazing how much you can get out of a small area.......with less weeds to worry about too. I almost got rid of the kids' swingset, but then realized how useful it could be in the garden! I'm so glad I have it. And I even checked it for lead, and it didn't have any.

Have you ever grown butternut squash up a trellis? I have some cattle panels that would be strong enough to hold them, that I was thinking of putting next to my squash area, but I've heard that sometimes the squash are too heavy and they drop off prematurely. Although last year, the butternut squash meandered into the tomato cages and climbed them and seemed to do okay. I love eating squash in the middle of winter! But they do take up alot of space.
Good luck with your garden!

[Mrs-M]

Wow! Looks great, CathyA! Love the sounds of your well-rounded variety of garden goodness, too! Thanks muchly for posting.

P.S. Are you lucky enough to get a little shade (garden area) at some point throughout the day, Cathy? (To help provide you with a little reprieve from the searing summer heat).

[iris lily]

Beautiful! I can SO relate.

At any time from April1 to Oct 1 the state of my contentment figures heavily on: are the beds weeded and mulched? If I've chaos in the garden plots, ugh, life is not so bright and shiney.

[Float On]

looks nice!

[pinkytoe]

I wish we could garden like that. It is already so hot here that my snow peas were gone six weeks ago. No rain either - time for a rain dance.

[daisy]

What a nice looking garden! Alas, mine is never so nice.

[Tussiemussies]

Looks great, nice and neat too. Wish I had a garden this year. You'll have to keep posting pictures so I can live through you! lOL

That is really sweet about the bird's nest...

[CathyA]

Thanks again everyone.
Like I said, it will probably never look this good again. haha
We grow weeds big enough for firewood around here!
The wren's babies are making alot of noise these days. I'll probably see them learning to fly around the garden.

[herbgeek]

I grew melons vertically a few years ago. I'd heard its common for the melons to fall off prematurely due to weight, so I used strips of pantyhose legs to hold up the melons and attached them to the vertical support.