People told me everything would get eaten by deer, rabbits and hedgehogs. People told me the grasshoppers would be relentless. I started an edible garden this year anyway. And so far, everything is thriving.
One of the two raised beds I set up for veggies this year.
The beets look very purple and upwards (only God knows when I should harvest those — they’ll probably rot or freeze underground before anyone eats them). The cucumbers are spreading their spidery stems everywhere. The zucchinis are flowering and someone told me I can eat the male flowers (I didn’t know flowers had sex!!).
I placed some garlic clips here and there, I installed a mesh under the raised beds. But so far, I attribute my veggie gardening success not to a green thumb, but to dogs.
My dogs, Frieda and Lola, are huge and happy and bouncy, and probably scare away most of the critters that plague other people’s gardens. The food is right outside the kitchen, and that’s their go-to place for basking in the sun and munching on bully sticks. They also mark all around the raised beds, so I guess all furry inhabitants nearby are very aware this is an off-limits supply of doggie food — even though my dogs actually hate salad. (But no one needs to know that, haha.)
Beets and celery and dill and whatever else (I can’t remember what half of the things are and I misplaced their tags).
Now summer is here, and the insects are getting restless and hungry. This afternoon, competition finally showed up — I found a slug eating a lettuce, taking its (lengthy) time to crawl over the fluttering green surface.
Slugs are disgusting, with their slimy little bodies, leaving a trail of goo wherever they pass. But I confess their antennae are kinda cute, and I respect someone who loves mustard greens as much as I do.
Poor slug. I sent it packing into the woods, but I made sure to pack a supply of five delicious iceberg lettuce leaves with it, just until it finds something else to munch on. (Hey, I’m nice.)
Then I noticed my kale looked like a Swiss cheese. Who the hell likes kale?? Who would eat kale without a doctor pestering you about all the nutrients and vitamins and folate and magnesium and so on? I guess even insects can be crazy.
Lola (left) and Frieda hanging out around the raised beds.
Anyway, despite the mild destruction, I saw some ladybugs hanging out on several veggies, probably eating away the realm of competition too small for me to notice, like the bright green aphids who have been tormenting all plants this year. (Maybe aphids like kale? I had a better opinion of them, always eating my best roses and summer flowers.)
Even though I just realized I’ll need to be more protective of my crops from now on, I am thrilled with this new habit of going outside, watering, and then plucking some leaves and eating them right there, or just a few feet away, in the house. Everything is so fresh. It’s the first time I grow things I can eat. I have food, and the (unreasonable) feeling I can sustain myself growing my own stuff is simply incredible.
Maybe I should recruit reinforcements and build a small frog pond right next to the raised beds. Frogs love eating slugs and all kinds of insects, and as far as I know, they don’t care for watermelons or dill.
The only problem? Believe it or not, I think it will be dogs.
Teddy, the chocolate lab who lives next door, can’t see a drop of water without throwing himself at it. The frogs and tadpoles would go flying on Pond Day #1. Teddy will be his happy self, all wet and muddy, while toads will be running for their oily lives.
I guess I can’t keep everyone happy. But for now, all is well, I think. There’s enough greens for all of us: the slugs, the ladybugs, and me.
Teddy, who lives next door, in his new kiddy pool. He loves water!