My Little Vegetable Garden

This year, I am going to be serious about growing some of my own vegetables. Every year I plant a few tomato plants, only to have them eaten by my herd of deer. Well this year will be different. I love fresh vegetables but don't often drive to the farmer's market mostly because it's inconvenient. But the food we buy in the grocery stores is full of chemicals and I firmly believe that's why cancer is so prevalent. Even the "high quality" pet foods are full of bad stuff. Have you ever looked into what dog food really is and how it's made? But I'm getting off subject.

While helping Gail's husband clean up a rental property, I brought home some things that were headed for the landfill. You know me - always have an eye out for free stuff I can repurpose in one way or another. Well, there was the ugliest "light fixture" in the kitchen. When John took it down, I asked if I could have it. It was nothing more than a box built out of really thick pine wood surrounding some fluorescent bulbs. I immediately saw potential for a raised bed. So I dragged the thing to my car, brought it home and put it in place.

Now Gail and John are very generous folks, and they let their employees at the nursery take soil from their compost pile for free. This compost is actually high grade soil with fertilizer in it that they use for growing the plants they sell.

Now check out my little garden that Alissa and I planted today.


The frame was free, the soil was free, and I've basically worked off, or will work off the cost of the plants, so they're kind of free. I've put the frame next to my fence, which will be a perfect support for the climbing veggies I'm planting (some beans and cucumbers). There's plenty of room for tomato plants and some green peppers. I've even bought some varieties of lettuce. If nothing else, I can live on tomato sandwiches this summer. I'm also going to put some other vegetables in pots in the back yard where they will be safe from the deer. Zoe and Blair, on the other hand, are quite another story. I'll be taking precautions so they can't dig up all my plants.

Here is my little garden helper taking a break. She said she was digging for treasures in the driveway.




I am taking part in the Sustainable Living Project hosted by Jan at Thanks for Today. Please go visit her blog and read more about this project. While you're at it, hop over to Garden Girl's blog and read some very inspiring posts about sustainable living and the importance of growing our own food, or at least part of it. She has a lot of very important information.

You know me - ever the tree hugger. While I usually come at it from an animal right's perspective, it's all about respecting nature in all its forms and taking care of Mother Earth...not just taking. Change one little thing that you do. It will make a big difference to our planet.