Since moving here seven years ago I have been determined to grow fruits and vegetables. Each year we've expanded the garden, experimenting with different ways to naturally amend the soil, different bed types from raised to Hügelkultur. From open access to all the critters, to a 27'x27' plot that is a veritable jail for the blueberry bushes.
The small birds still get in to the blueberry enclosure. Despite the fake owl with deranged, orange and black seed-bead eyes, a dozen CDs spinning from fishing line, and chicken wire on all sides and top. The sides double wrapped with
bird netting. They take tiny, beak-clipped bites from ripe berries leaving the remainder of the damaged fruit on the bush to taunt me. There's a lot of fist shaking on my part when I'm in there. They are bold enough to pop in while I'm actually in the enclosure picking berries, chirping with fierce demands that I leave THEIR blueberries ALONE. I remind them they have ALL DAY to steal more when I'm not looking. Yes, I get the occasional quizzical looks from joggers.
The deer, mice, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, ground hog (my annual idle threats to this bowling ball of fur are summarily ignored), and insects like to sample their fair share. Our overburdened Australian Shepherd, Ki, does everything in his power to ward them off. Or at least let's them know, loudly, persistently, that he SEES them. Of course, he'd quit his job in a hot minute and let them do anything they want if they'd only throw a ball a million times. Our harvest is doomed if he brings any of them a ball and convinces them to play.
The garden, which we started late this year, to nearly drown in July's incessant rain, and whither in August's heat and humidity, still gave us quite the bounty. No fifteen gallons of tomato sauce like last year, but the blueberries, peaches, pears, blackberries, currants, cherry tomatoes, summer squash, peppers (hot and sweet), green/yellow beans (sooooooo many beans), radishes, beets, (fingers crossed on those random cupboard potatoes with eyes grown as long as my finger that I tossed into the ground on a whim), and soon to be picked corn and pulled carrots remind us that we are well provided for. Enough to share with all the woodland creatures and some left to share with neighbors.
I hope that whatever seeds you've sown, whatever gardens you've tended, your harvest supports and sustains you.
Here are some journals for planning, cataloging, and reflecting on the gardens that are part of Your Story.
Garden Goddess : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09B4BT374
Pick of the Day: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09B4F4VP8
The Nature of My Days: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099BVNTWX/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
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