French Pumpkins and a Spooky Halloween Visitor

Happy Halloween!

I'm happy to say that this is not the only pumpkin that I got out of the garden this year. For some reason my garden was plagued by squash vine borer this summer, which killed off many of my squash plants. The ONLY one not to take a hit was the french pumpkins. These plants were very vigorous growers and it grew roots at almost every node along the vine- whether it was touching ground or not! This feature of the plant may have been just the adaptive feature it needed to survive my horrid summer of the squash vine borer.

The August Garden

If anyone has been paying attention, posts have been a bit non-existent for the last couple months... actually I haven't even checked so it could be longer! Yikes! Well, this post is to show how very existent and happening the garden was and that the only reason that I haven't been blogging has been due to being extremely busy! Your about to see why...

Garlic Harvest

Garlic!

The garlic began to be harvested just as the pantry released its last clove from 2010. I've been a bit behind with posting, but rest assured its because I've been busy with the garden!

Squash Vine Borers and Cucumber Beetles

Pests pests pests. The garden seems to have one pest vanquished only to be blind sided by another. Some are familiar, while others are not. Every year is so different there always seems to be some new experience that will aid in growing future gardens.

Mein kleiner Garten Freunden

While I'm still battling groundhogs, there is some goodness in the garden. Forget the foes for a moment and lets celebrate the garden friends!

Pea Harvest

Its time for the pea harvest!

On pests and practicing science

Right now a very serious DAILY threat to Mega Garden is Marmota monax or the groundhog, woodchuck, ground chunk... whatever you want to call it. I've been patrolling first thing in the morning before work and first thing when I get home... studying the ground... searching for signs of activity around the fence... and IN the garden (though thankfully no more damage since the weekend). Young Marmota monax are out there in force. Waiting to find that weak place in your garden fence so it can eat all your precious plants.

It seems like gardening is one of those few commonly practiced human activities that deals with direct relationships with nature. Complete cycles of life... and death.