Belated garden update

As I somewhat expected, I've managed to neglect my own dot of a backyard garden while furiously trying to publicize others within the Grow Food, Grow Hope initiative. It's only a little ironic, I guess.

Anyhow, the backyard plot has been flourishing in the past weeks. So far I've harvested radishes, lettuce and a dozen green onions. The carrots are huge, albeit smothered, and one of my pepper plants has a fist-sized green pepper waiting to be picked.

Yesterday I took the time to tend to some very intrusive and meandering (and neglected) cucumber plants. The nature of square-foot gardening doesn't allow much room for vining plants, so it's almost certain that you'll have to trellis them in some way to stop them from taking over every other square they can meander to (see: my carrots). So I've been thinking of ways I can trellis the

cucumbers in my relatively small area, without spending too much

money. Last week, Taylor mentioned creating an arc out of wood or sticks to allow the plant to vine around, and as the cucumbers develop gravity will naturally pull them downward. It sounded like a good idea, and when I saw the method first-hand in his own garden, I decided to try it as well.

Taylor used bamboo for his arch, which fits much better with the organic feel of a garden than something store bought, so I decided on the same. After an arduous but fun adventure into the woods behind Wilmington College, I found the patch of bamboo where Taylor's friend Chip had harvested the stalks. (Expect another post tonight from said adventure: a gem of a find.) We trekked them back to my house, and easily staked them into the ground and bowed them to make the arch. We twist-tied the vines to the bamboo, and voila, the garden has an entirely new, verdant look to it. And all it took was 5 minutes. (Not counting the hour long hike in the woods.)

Tonight I plan on taking my camera and notebook back onto the trail where we found the bamboo. Should make for some good blog fodder.