April 23, 2010

Backyard Box Garden

I'm linking up with Kimba's DIY party. She has a DIY day every week with awesome giveaways!


Yesterday we had a little discussion about gardening, (Thanks for all of the great comments!) in which several people declared their love for vegetable gardening. As I mentioned yesterday, I am a wuss when it comes to the summer heat of NC. We've tried vegetable gardening many years over but each year the weeds get out of control like unruly children in a grocery store.

And then there's the deer, rabbits, and squirrels that think our yard is their own piece of paradise, with a free lunch program.
After many failed attempts at a "real" garden, we decided to do raised beds. Last year brought a successful harvest of tomatoes and basil, so this year we tripled the size and got a little creative.

We wrapped the entire garden in bird netting to keep the munchers out. My man attached it at the bottom with some little 1x1 boards. And then he came up with this brilliant idea:
See that little screw poking out of the side? The bird netting hooks onto it and can easily be removed by human hands, not hooves or paws.
Another shot of the netting "closed" from the top. I'm so glad I married that guy. MacGyver's got nothing on him.

So here's our 2010 garden. The beauty of doing small raised beds is that there is little room for weeds to grow. Now if we could just figure out how to add air conditioning.

We're growing lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, herbs and okra.
What's your favorite summer veggie?

13 comments:

The Lord Family said...

My favorite summer veggie?
Tomatoes, hands down. Nothing beats a tomato "sammich" when it is fresh from the garden. Two slices of (white...shhhh!) bread, Duke's mayo thinly spread, salt and pepper. Mmmmm,mmmm good!

Anonymous said...

Garden looks great. I've been tempted recently to do some sort of raised garden. As soon as you get the AC thing worked out let me know.
SK

Unknown said...

Your raised bed garden is beautiful!

My favorite veggie (and I'm sorry I missed yesterdays comments conversation!) to grow is the tomato...but this year my zucchini is growing like a weed so it may become my favorite!

Tiffani said...

We're working up to this next year hopefully...these year we planted tomatoes and strawberries in planters..hopefully we will be successful!!

How smarty pants of y'all!! I am going to put this in my pocket for future reference.

Unknown said...

It's not a vegetable...but try pineapple sage!!! It's so yummy in salads, teas...and it's gorgeous!!

Well done on the raised beds!

Carpool Queen said...

Dibs on Kellie's extra zucchini. Or on the zucchini bread she makes from it.

I want to make a raised bed garden now. Do you hire your husband out?

Angel said...

Our family loves fresh green beans, but our favorite thing to grow is basil. We use it in practically everything.

Good job on the gardening! We too had to put up netting, the rabbits were getting fat.

Kellie said...

Steve has put that same netting up around our garden. He began it last year when the deer decided our garden was their very own "all you can eat buffet." It works great!

We are growing squash, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, and butter beans. :) (I think that's it!)

Little Oak Table said...

Mmm pineapple sage sounds really fun.

We love tomatoes! BLT's with Mustard baby! Yum-O.

We'll also do cheese toast with a slice of tomato & cheddar for breakfast.

Amber said...

Look how smarty y'all are!!

So we have a garden this year. Correction...the MEN have a garden this year. Because I don't garden. Ever.

But I LOVE to eat fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. Nothing is better than the juice running down your face and arms. Yum.

Rachel said...

I'm so envious of all you green-thumbers! I guess I'll just have to settle for a weekly delivery of fresh picked summer veggies on my front porch from the produce box!

I have many favorite summer veggies: Cucumbers in vinegar, tomatoes with salt/pepper and green peppers cooked fajita style on the grill. YUM!

Angie said...

Ok well I'm trying not to be jealous over your veggie garden!! Love it! Make sure you stop back by the blog later! I did one Sidewalk Sunday post where I feature things I've gotten for free and went out to run some errands only to hit the mother load of stuff!!! I'll be posting a 2nd Sidewalk Sunday in about an hour and half!!

Sarah said...

I could eat tomatoes and cucumbers EVERY single day for lunch!!!