Gardening in The Time of Covid-19

Tomato vines trellised

The Covid-19 pandemic hit just as gardening season began. There were shortages. People were hoarding toilet paper. Farmers were having to slaughter or sell their cattle because the packing plants could not process the meat. Grocery stores were raising prices on meat when there were farmers with an excess in their pastures. Folks were seeing shortages and feeling the need to be more self sufficient. Gardening became a survival skill, not a hobby.

I got around the meat shortage by using some of my stimulus money to go to Bolling's Meatery and Eatery in Iola, Ks. for locally butchered beef. So far I've topped off my deep freeze on three occasions. I won't be buying beef at Kroger's again. This is flavorful meat!

First planted

The kids were eager to garden, and I was feeling the need as well. Last year was odd. There were no bulk quantities of tomatoes to be had. All I could can were what Lisa and I grew ourselves. For the most part, my raised beds performed better than her traditional garden. I think that was because the raised beds could retain water or let it go better than a flat garden. I have also been building the soil in my raised beds for several years. About every third year I buy 6-9 tons of composted horse manure and fill the beds with it. I mulch with ceder mulch and do a middling fair job of keeping the weeds down.

Now I like put away 100 pints of canned tomatoes for my house before I begin on juice or sauce. Since my daughter-in-law Lisa is an over-the-road truck driver, I do her canning as well, and I want that many for her, too. Last year we got only 50 pints of tomatoes total. Ugh. :(  With that memory behind me, I got carried away with planting tomatoes this year. Instead of my usual 8 or 10 plants, I planted 50!

Bundle of 50 lath

One section of trellis being laid out

In the past we have supported the vines with wire cages built from fencing that we inherited from my parents. Those cages are at Joe and Lisa's place. I didn't want to make that sort of support this year. Pinterest saved the day. Lisa found a post about building trellis from lath. Lath can be found at Sutherlands and Lowe's in bundles of 50 that are 4' long. (I used 4 bundles).

Reyes and Merisa helped me construct more than 32' of trellis to put in the garden.  We spaced the uprights 12" apart and the horizontals about 10" apart. That left us a 6" foot at the base of each trellis to pound into the ground. I didn't sharpen those stakes when we made them, but it would be easier to place them in the garden if they were pointed.

Reyes and Merisa at work

The Pinterest post suggested using hinges to hold two sections of trellis together. I didn't want to go to that expense. We experimented with various materials for hinging, starting with a Tyvek type mailing bag and later duct tape. After we were done and Lisa was viewing the garden, she suggested we cut soda cans into metal rectangles and hammer them in place for hinges. If the duct tape doesn't hold, I may do that.

First trellis went into the cucumber bed

We put the first trellis in the cucumber bed. They have loved it! By July the vines have reached the top and are falling over the frame. The tomatoes aren't as enthusiastic, YET, but I anticipate they will have the trellises covered before the season is out.

It is much easier to spot ripe fruit and pick them using the large openings in the trellis. I find it easier to wander around and weed the bed, too. The trellises are more open than those wire cages were. Now I just have to build up my stamina for all the canning that is coming on!

A Quiet Holiday

Cookout with firepit and charcoal grill

Independence Day was low key this year. Lisa was on the road. We lost Roseanna this spring to a heart attack. July 4th was her birthday and she liked to have a good celebration. Then there was Covid-19.We have been told to wear masks; to social distance and to keep groups to 10 or less.  

Social distancing, Evans style

Should we even have a picnic?  We decided to do it, but to only include the family and friends that we have been socializing with regularly. No extra visitors for a special event.  That meant the picnic would be the people who live in my house (Reyes, Merisa and I) and Joe and Leon as well as Gage Sims and his son, Ayden. 

Merisa checked out the table

 Joe, Gage and the kids brought fire works for later. We enjoyed hot dogs, bratwurst, and hamburgers with all the fixings, as well as watermelon, pasta salad and baked beans.There were a couple of small tomatoes from the garden, but we had to make do with ones from the grocery for most of the burgers. There were some cupcakes as well.  We didn't go hungry. 

Reyes and Joe

Leon kept an eye on the firepit

Ayden is ready for the fire works

Ayden was happy to eat, but the promise of fireworks was always on his mind. He got his wish at dusk when the guys started the fire works. 

Oh, my! Garlic!

 I found out I've been planting my garlic in the wrong season all this time. I would plant it in the spring, with the onions. No. It wants to be planted in the fall.

Starting string

So, this time I did it right. I bought several garlic bulbs last fall and planted them in the triangle bed. When I harvested them today, there were a lot of other plants around that looked suspiciously like garlic. What happened to my leeks? They sure look more like garlic. What about those "flowers" in the south flowerbed? Isn't that -- oh, my! Garlic.  What happened?  I don't know if the birds planted them or if I did something in my sleep, but Wow! Do I have garlic! (The shiny round circle, by the way, is the electric meter on the back porch.)

With this much garlic to dry, how would I hang it? The stalks are not as flexible as onions. I cannot braid them. Hm... I could tie them but the stalks might fall out of the bundles. If I could just chain them together somehow. Hm.. Oh! Chain! Chain stitch! I'll crochet them together!!

Chain stitching each stalk

I began by laying a length of cotton yarn on a table. I then laid a handful of garlic over the yarn. Each time I picked up a stalk, I'd work a chain stitch around the stalk and then go to the next one.  When the garlic was a good handful, I cut the yarn and tied it to itself to create a bundle. This kept the garlic together and created a way to hang it for drying. It works best to make this tie about 2/3 the way up the stalk so that it hangs well when placed on a nail.

Bundle stitched together

My back porch has vinyl siding. That was too brittle to hold drying nails easily, so Leon helped my place some of the left-over lath from the tomato trellis across the wall between the back  door and the kitchen window. We nails into the lath every 6-8 inches apart. I hooked the crocheted ties over the nails and hung the garlic to dry. When I feel it is fully dry, I'll cut the bulbs off the ends and store them inside in net bags. The tops and the cotton string will go to the compost pile.

The New Normal

Lala models masks

I have been making masks. They recommend we wear them but they cannot be had. The ones that are the best protection need to be saved for doctors, nurses, and support staff.

I'm okay with that. I have more sewing machines than I can count. I can make masks! 

I have found two different patterns. The first I made were a basic flat mask. They are easy to do and have a lot of coverage. The second pattern is more fitted. It reminds me of sewing bra cups. Who knew that my bra making skills would translate into mask making for a pandemic?

Jen is working from home, but Granddaughter Lala is a receptionist in a doctor's office. She finds paper masks uncomfortable. I sent them a selection of the first masks I made. You can see how she modeled them for me. 

Self-Quarantining

Stocking up

There is a pandemic. Covid-19 is spreading around the globe and we each need to do what we can to contain it. A vaccine might contain it someday, but that is not here now and won't be for some time to come. What do we do? We stay home. We wear masks in public, and we limit our access to others.

The Kansas legislature where I work has sent us on break early. We don't know if we will return at the first of May as we usually do, or if it will be later.

People are panicking. Toilet paper is nearly impossible to get.(Why? It's a flu. A cold. Tissue paper, maybe, but toilet paper?? I don't get it.) Anyroad... Things cannot be had. Paper towels. Antiseptic wipes. Rubbing alcohol. Some foods. We are encouraged to wear masks, but they cannot be had. I went looking for flour the other day and the only thing on the shelf was ONE 25 lb. bag. What do folks think is going to happen? It isn't a hurricane. The supply line isn't broken... Oh, well.

Working on that 25 lbs. of flour

Staying home isn't really hard for me. I stay home most of the year. The shortage of stuff has triggered my self-sufficient instincts. Mom was a farmer's daughter who lived through the Great Depression. She taught me to garden and can and put enough by to survive a year. I find myself falling into that mode. I don't believe that we have shortages, but if I cannot get things because others are panicking, I'll make do with what I have. (And yes, I bought that 25 pounds of flour. I'm a baker. It won't go bad.)

Now yeast cannot be had! I buy yeast by the pound and store it in the deep freeze. I have yeast. I have mailed some to my daughter in Texas and to a friend in Mumbai. I will be trying sour-dough starter, too, but I have never had much luck growing sourdough yeast.

Mini-greenhouse starting our garden

The kids -- my grandson and his lady -- are all for self-sufficiency. We've been planning this year's garden. They have seeds growing in the living room and they are plotting what we can do for ourselves. (Why do I get the feeling that that will translate into what Grandma can do?) The dog Jane digs too much and she has torn up a lot of the old orchard. Reyes tilled it the other day and we'll be planting corn and potatoes there. The potatoes are a gift. The ones I had in the south room sprouted, so we cut them up and will plant them. Thank you, Lord.

Corn and potato patches

I've been a bit more practical. I pulled out my make-ahead cookbooks and stirred up meals-in-a-jar, home-made biscuit mix, and other do-it-yourself things. The kids like my make-ahead pizza crusts. Pull one out of the freeze, add spaghetti sauce and toppings. Pizza Hut was never this good.

Made ahead pizza crust

Homemade spaghetti and pizza sauce

I do worry about my weigh-in at the Bariatric doctor in a couple of weeks. The way I've been making homemade bread, cookies and other snacks, I am afraid I will be bigger than I was last year.

Why Do I Blog Less?

You would think that now that I'm retired, I'd be blogging left, right and sideways. Instead, the blogging has dried to barely a trickle.  I've been pondering this. Why? What is different?

Well, EVERYTHING is different. My life doesn't have the routines that it had when I was working. There is very little sitting down after supper and surfing the Net. Now I have Internet on the cell phone; on the tablet; on the laptop. I can check e-mail everywhere. Anywhere. Because it is so easy, I use the laptop less and zip in and out on the Android things.

If I am not on the laptop, there is no inclination to pop open the blog and post an entry. For the blog I want a REAL keyboard. And time. And access to my photos.

The real culprit, however, is that big time waster: Facebook. If you drop a sentence to your friends that you spent the day in the garden, it has been said. The Inner Writer has expressed herself. Why sit down and compose a few paragraphs on the topic?

Now that I know this, I hope I will skip Facebook and post more often. There are interesting things going on around the Old Home Place. I should record them.

Iris Knits has new web address

If you came here hoping that the link still works with my knitting blog, alas, it may not. HOWEVER, the new address is  http://irisireneknits.blogspot.com/

Goodbye, Mr. Cluck

I found Mr. Cluck dead in his pen today. I was surprised last night that he didn’t run out to greet me when I got home. I checked on him and found him nesting in the new hay in his box. His eyes were bright and he cocked his head to study me.

There was no happy crow to wake me today. When I went out to feed him, no friendly rooster running to the gate. His food from yesterday was untouched. And he was dead in the hay of his box. :(

There was no damage on him. I can only assume he got overheated.

He was a joy to have around. I’ll miss him.

Where Did the Pictures Go?

It appears that about 90% of my blog photos have gone MIA. I deleted my Picasa account because I was tired of every stupid thing I might snap with my phone camera (the steering wheel and one foot; that poster I was going to remember to tell my daughter about; the one where my finger was over the lens, EVERYTHING!) was being posted to Picasa. This was in spite of me turning off all of automatic settings I could find. I had visions of all sorts of things I didn't want to see the light of day winging through the ether for Tom, Dick, and Harry to enjoy. So, I deleted my Picasa account. All of it.

What I did not realize was that my blog photos lived in Picasa. Now they too are gone forever.

Not exactly forever. Most of those files are stored elsewhere on my computer or a CD archive disc. Slowly I am reconstructing the evidence. This will not be an overnight restore because I have multiple blogs and some of them have many, many posts.

In the meantime, dear reader, please accept my apologies.

Meet the Chicken

We have added a chicken to the homestead. Gee. I didn't even know I had a homestead. I just have a small town home a garden, some grape vines and blackberries. And a bunch of herbs. And a penchant for canning. And a hobby of learning to use herbs for more than cooking. Not to mention the knitting and sewing. And... And... When did this become a homestead?

Now, about the chicken?" you ask. She is a rescue that my daughter-in-law brought home.  Lisa, the daughter-in-law, drives a semi. She found the chicken running loose in the parking lot at a Tyson slaughter house. Since no one claimed the feathered refugee, Lisa popped her into the cab of her truck and brought her home. I have no idea what breed of chicken she might be, but we've been calling her Lucky Leghorn.  We are pretty sure she was a caged bird, but I am very pleased she never had her beak trimmed.  It took her a week to become accustomed to walking and exploring a small cage at my son's house. Today Lucky was introduced to her new home: the 10x20' former dog pen in my back yard.

As soon as Lucky was released into the pen, my black cat Loki found his way inside. He went to sniff the chicken and Lucky pecked him on the nose. Ouch! He retreated to the water dish to check out the beverage on tap. Lucky spotted a long, black, fuzzy wormlike thing and pinched it. Ouch, again! If you look closely at the photo, you will see Loki on the right side of the pen, staying as far away from that Evil Chicken as he can get. Shortly after the photo was taken, Loki made his escape and got far, far away.

My first priority was to get the top of the pen enclosed so neither my cats nor any visiting hawks or raccoons could get inside. Son Joe, granddaughter Lala, and I strung netting across the top of the pen.  It was hardly finished before another of my cats, Lonesome, jumped up to check out the handy work. He must have been talking to Loki, because he didn't even try to get closer to Lucky.

Now Joe is building Lucky a small hen house where she can get out of the weather. I have a bit of straw I can tuck inside later for nesting material.

Dad built the dog pen in 1961 for his hunting dogs. I bet both he and Mom are in Heaven laughing about this latest use of his 53 year old dog pen.

UPDATE:  The chicken's name didn't stick. We got to calling her Mrs. Cluck, from Disney's Robin Hood. That worked fine until "Mrs. Cluck" started crowing. Oops!

So now he is Mr. Cluck.  He's such a lot of fun. Whenever we go to the pen to feed him he runs to the gate to greet us. Technically we are not supposed to have a rooster inside the city limits, but no one has complained and I will keep my happy chicken until I have to move him. Fortunately, Joe and Lisa live 1/2 mile outside of town on 5 acres. If the city complains, I can see if the kids can take him.

Scheduling Growing Families and Holiday Meals

I have been baking today. I made dinner rolls and two King Cakes. Granddaughter Lala was here and accused me of torturing her. All that food -- and we can't eat it until SATURDAY. Oh, Grandma!!

This year my children and I hit the wall every family meets eventually. I couldn't schedule Thanksgiving or Christmas celebrations at my house because the kids were busy doing their own things at their houses. So at Thanksgiving, I went with my beau, Leon, to his sister's for the holiday. Jen, Steve and Lala had a meal at their house. Joe and Lisa and Aunt Roseanna did something else at their places.

I thought we might be able to manage a Christmas meal, but the same problems came up. So, I stole a page from Leon's family. I am not trying to have a family holiday meal at Thanksgiving or Christmas. I'm celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas and inviting everyone for an Epiphany Meal (that's Kings Day or 12th Night, depending on how you count it.)

This is the second time I've made a King Cake (which is really a sweet bread with a cinnamon/raisin/nut filling.)  I made one for Mardi Gras one year when I worked at Grand Prairie Memorial Library. The recipe makes 2 cakes, so I took one to work. Everyone had fun with that, especially Mel, who was from New Orleans.  That was when I learned King Cakes were originally made for Epiphany in honor of the Three Kings coming to visit the Baby Jesus. What would be better then, than to make a King Cake for this Epiphany Celebration?

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. I'm going to Topeka to see my friend Marsha. It's her birthday. When we were kids, we always spent her birthday together. We have tried to get together several times since I returned to Kansas, but tomorrow we are going to make it! I will present her with a newly printed copy of my cookbook and wish her Happy Birthday and Joyous New Year.

And Thursday I'll be back to cooking for our dinner on Saturday. Hm... wonder what pies go well with King Cake?

Mea Culpa

I haven't blogged much in the past year. There are photos waiting in a folder. Stories yet to tell. Good intentions say I'll still write those blogs and pre-date them so they show up in the right spots. Hey, it's winter now? That's a good time to do inside jobs, right?

Well, 2014 was a busy year. In January I had foot surgery. That sat me back for a goodly time. During the 6-8 weeks of recovery time, I did a lot of knitting and watching TV. YEA! An excuse to knit. The main thing I worked on was the Lion Brand Flattering Jacket. I got everything but the sleeves done while I was not walking. In November I finished it. The sweater is made from a llama/wool blend and is quite warm. I love it.

By the time I was walking again, it was time to start the seeds for my garden. I never have success growing my plants from seeds. I use a grow light. I use good soil. I use fresh seeds. They don't grow. Viola! A nursery man I was complaining to this summer told me what I was doing wrong. He said it didn't matter how early I planted my seeds. If the soil isn't warm, the seeds won't grow. My seed starts are kept in the sunniest, however, the coolest room of the house. It sounds like I need to find one of those mats that folks put in terrariums for lizards -- something to keep the floor warm (or at least an electric heating pad). I could put that under the trays of seedlings. I'll search my seed catalogs and see what they offer. Guerney's Seed and Nursery Co., formerly of Yankton, S.D., now in Greendale, Indiana, always has neat goodies. It just so happens my new Guerney's catalog came in last week... Dream time!!

Perhaps I'll find something interesting. Otherwise, I will not even try seedlings in 2015.  I'll just haunt all my favorite nurseries. There are two in Topeka, One south of town, one in Burlington and one in LeRoy. I love nurseries. There is a lot of instant gratification in bringing home plants 3", 6" or taller and putting them right in the ground where I want them. No worrying with watering and waiting. No wondering if they will come up and survive. They are right there! I can see them. I can plan around them. Unfortunately, I'm limited to the varieties that the nurseries stock. Seeds can come from anywhere. You can have any kind of seed that will grow in your climate if you start your own. (Sigh) Stick within your capabilities, Iris.

The garden did get in. As usual, I tried some things I hadn't grown before. My best experiment was Yard Long Beans. My 4'x12" raised bed grew enough beans for me to put up  the 75 1/2-pints I wanted for the year. If I were feeding more than one person, I could probably plant the plot more densely and get 75 full pints from that space. I will definitely grow these beans next year.

This was not a good year for tomatoes. I don't know if it was the new bed where I planted them, or if there was something else wrong. I had a terrible time with blossom end rot, particularly on the paste tomatoes. Nearly all of them had to be discarded. The beefsteak tomatoes fared the best. I canned and juiced all I wanted, but supplemented a lot with tomatoes from Pome on the Range in Homewood, Ks. I hear calcium helps prevent blossom end rot. Next time I plant tomatoes, I'll be certain to put ground up egg shells in each hole at the time of planting. I will also research the problem this winter to see what else I can do to prevent it next year.

Root crops don't grow well here. My onions are a bit bigger than pearl onions. The potatoes and sweet potatoes are hardly big enough to peel. I don't think I will mess with potatoes next year. My soil has a large clay content. I need more humus and what? sand?  Wouldn't that turn clay to concrete? Need more research. I truly would like to grow big onions and healthy carrots. Forget about potatoes. Give me carrots!!

It is now December. The New Year will be here before the week is out. It's time to knit, study seed catalogs, and plan for next year.  The Wheel of the Year turns even when we aren't ready. We might as well keep jogging and stay with it. It's certain I'm 66 and ready to slow down in some areas, but I enjoy playing in the dirt too much to quit gardening. There is such a joy to see the plants come up, bloom and give their fruit or seeds. I find myself out there talking to them and telling them how pretty they are.

If you're going to be a Crazy Cat Lady and Eccentric Gardener, you might as well start with talking to to plants. :)  Wouldn't you tell these flowers how beautiful they are?

Mom's Home Cooking is DONE!

When Dad was on the road, Mom typed up the recipes she didn't want to be without and put them in a small ring binder. This was her personal cookbook. It went with her everywhere. When I left home, I typed my own copy of that book. Over the years I've added many recipes to it. After Mom died in 2000, I realized I wanted to share those recipes with my daughter Jen.

I had inherited Mom's and Grandma Hull's recipe files, cookbooks and the ever faithful ring binder. I didn't want those recipes to be lost. In the late 70s the Bethell cousins had shared recipes with me so I could preserve Grandma Bethell's recipes. Now it was time to do it for the Hull side. 

I purchased cookbook writing software and got to work. By 2004 the first pass was printed for Jen and I, but there were lots of recipes I hadn't even started to key into the computer. Fast forward to 2014. Three or four software programs, several computer OS upgrades and computer crashes later, I have finally come to a place where I can say "Stop." Not "Done." Just stop. All the files that had been keyed in over the last 14 years had to be rekeyed this year because Windows 7 doesn't talk to that older software. I started last fall and have worked at it steadily. There are close to 450 recipes in the book now, and over 200 pages. This is a good start.

It was good that no one was coming to my house today, Christmas Day. I was still formatting the chapters and printing them. By 5:30 when I went to Jen and Steve's for Christmas Dinner, the books were finished. I printed seven copies and put them in ring binders. A master copy, a working copy for me, and presents for Jen, Lala, Lisa, Marsha and Roseanna. I will be sharing the book with cousin, in-laws, and outlaws via email as a .pdf file. The ones that want a hard copy can print it for themselves.

I am so proud of this book! Most chapters have about 30 recipes in them, even the canning chapter!

We come from a long line of country cooks and gardeners. Canning is a strong family tradition. You could see a set up like the one in the picture in any cousin's kitchen during tomato season. 

Mom would be proud of the large section on bread making. She enjoyed making bread. Grandma Hull once told Mom when she was a new wife that Grandma was proud of her. Most modern cooks had

given up bread making, but Mom hadn't. Grandma would be glad to know that Jen and I are bread makers, too. The line continues. I haven't tried every recipe in the bread section of the cookbook, but I can vouch for most of them!

There is one point. The cookbook isn't final. I anticipate adding more recipes every year. I've asked the people who got copies to share their favorite recipes with me in the coming year. I'll key them in and send out "update pages" at Christmas next year. The book will keep growing and truly reflect the favorite foods of our extended family.

   Mom's gift to the family was her genealogical research. My gift may be Mom's Home Cooking. Hm... I don't think that will be a bad thing.

Bethell Cousin Reunion

 It is hard to think that it is my generation that is calling the family reunions now. That was something Grandma -- or Mom -- did. I just went and tried to figure out who everyone was. This photo, by the way, is of my mother and her two sisters.  Erma is on the left, Mom (Wilma) in the center, and Myrna on the right.

For the last few years the only time I've seen my immediate cousins -- Jody, Dick, Marion and Marie -- have been at funerals. We laugh and say we have to quit meeting like this. Well, at the last funeral I took the bull by the horns and said, "Ok, let's have a picnic. At my place. When can you make it?"


We had one false start in August. When the day came that everyone was sort of available, it was hotter than the hinges of Hell. No one wanted to be outside. We agreed to wait a month. We were finally able to get together on Sept. 29.

It was fun to see everyone. My brother and one of his boys were there. Marie and Don couldn't make it, but Marion and Beverly, Dick and Donna and some of the next generation of cousins made it. My son Joe (standing in the one group shot) got to meet cousins he didn't know he had. Hm... that sounds familiar.


There was lots to eat, lots to talk about and many stories to share. You know, this was a lot better than meeting at funerals. We need to do this more often.  One cousin remembered that our Moms used to get together in October every year to celebrate their birthdays. Each was an October girl. Myrna, the oldest, is mother of Marion and Marie. Erma, the middle child, is mother of Bill, Dick and Jody. My mom, Wilma, was the baby. Skip and I claim her.  Another cousin said, "Well, this is nearly October. We're carrying on their tradition. Maybe we should do this next year."

I like the sound of that.

Mom Always Said Try Something New Every Planting Season

 My parents gardened for over 50 years on the property where I now live. Dad didn't understand why I wanted to compost or grow my garden organically. He used pesticides and chemical fertilizers and all the things that make me cringe, but that was their way and they were content.

I didn't always agree with their growing methods, but I do agree with their one dictum: Always try something new every year. You might find something you like; you might never eat it again, but you don't learn anything if you don't stretch yourself.

My "Something New" this year is Yard Long Beans. My raised beds are generally 4 ft. wide and 12 feet long. I don't want to work as hard at gardening as the folks did with their 30x90' traditional garden. I would still like canning or freezing quantities of some of the things I grow (Tomatoes! Definitely canning quantities of tomatoes!). I also want canning quantities of green beans.

In my small space, yard long beans seemed a good idea. My son drilled holes in the landscape timbers of the raised bed that would hold the conduit that supports the nylon trellis. The beans have been going to town. Every time it rains, more beans start growing.

Checking last year's canning log, I put up 30 1/2-pints of green beans. There are three, maybe four jars left. That was a good supply for one person last year. At the rate the yard-long beans are going, I'll have 30 1/2-pints by the end of July.  Ho-boy! I do hope my kids like green beans. I may be canning and giving them presents before the summer is out.

Kitchen Garden

New Kitchen Garden aka Triangle Bed

I loved the Kitchen Garden last year. It is placed right off the steps from the back porch. I grew lettuce, kale, tomatoes, flowers and other "kitchen herbs" just a few steps from my kitchen. 

There were some problems. I tilled the ground right up to the sidewalks. As the plants got bigger and hung over the fence, we had to swerve into the grass to get to the garage or the car parking area. The picket fence wasn't all that sturdy, either. The cats and dogs both were able to knock it down.

This year when Joe began his raised bed improvement plan, the kitchen garden got a make over. First I made sure the landscape timbers were going to be positioned well inside the walks. After that, Joe brought in his special tools and we brought the frame up to three landscape timbers high.


Being well aware of Grandpa's advice to rotate crops, I don't have the same things planted here this year. I miss the lettuce and herbs, although I did move chives and leeks into the point of the bed. Most of the bed is planted to watermelon and cantaloupe. The vines are everywhere. I think they like it!

Every time I walk to the car or the garage now, I play peek-a-boo among the vines spotting the melons that are developing. The watermelons are Sugar Babies -- small melons suitable to be eaten by one person. I'm not sure what type of cantaloupe I will get. The seeds I planted died, so I picked up something at the nursery that was labeled "cantaloupe." Surprise is good, right?