Cucumber Thief

Our two small, raised bed gardens are thriving. We were initially worried that the beds wouldn't be able to handle everything we wanted to plant, but it looks like our fears were for naught. We've been able to complement every meal for the last two weeks with our garden stuffs. There is such a feeling of accomplishment- walking out back and tearing off some lettuce for a salad, or pulling an onion to add to our chicken tacos. Our normally long trips to the grocery store have been cut back to 5 swift minutes in and out. I love it.

In full disclosure though, I will admit that our zucchini bit the dust pretty early on. I don't think it's death came down to a space issue-- the plants grew fairly large, they even flowered. Then it all went downhill; the flowers fell off and the plants wilted and died. The crazy thing is that the zucchini plants were located right next to the cucumber plants, which are thriving. We literally have so many cucumbers that we are scrambling to find enough ways to cook them all. So far, we have had cucumbers straight up, cucumbers chopped on salad, tzatziki (a nice throwback to my Greece trip), a cool cucumber salad dressing, and as of tonight... a cucumber/tomato/hot pepper salsa.

I want to share some pictures of our bounty, but first I have to mention that this garden has only confirmed something we have been thinking for a long time--Our little Judson wants to be a vegetarian! Judson has come alive with this garden. When we let him out the back door to do his business- he makes a beeline for the raised beds. He prowls around the perimeter (we have them enclosed in chicken wire), using his little snout/nose to find any cukes, tomaters, or peppers within reach. If he is lucky enough to find anything, he'll snatch it off the vine and then run off as fast as he can to eat it in a semi-hidden location. Even if Hubs or I are weeding in the garden beds, Judson will see what he can snatch. I do believe we've lost around 10 cucumbers and 4 tomatoes to that dog (that we've seen). And he washes all those veggies down with dandelion leaves!

Now for those pictures: