Red Neck Garden

Here in Westport, we have an over abundance of deer.  Because of this, we've been having to find a way to build a fence without breaking the bank. A few months back I'd seen a post about using pallets for all sorts of things.  It was crazy the things they used them for, building full sheds, chicken coops, and even picket-like fences.

Hers looked all nice and pretty but we've been taking what we can get for right now because we've been approaching June quickly and that is when everyone starts planting around here.  Our fence is a mish-mash of pallets, all different shapes and sizes but we' have found a few really nice ones and as we find more, we will replace the older ones.  Here is a picture of our garden all fenced in with pallets.

I know that its not very tall but we're working on the top part now that the bottom is done.  

On Saturday I planed what I could in two of the beds after laying out the grid. I used sticks and twine.  On wooden raised beds, most people will staple or use nails to hold the string but using concrete blocks makes that harder. Our back right hand bed has onions and beats.  The middle bed has beets, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Kale, Lettuce, and Celery.  

Today I went out and finished up that side and planted the front bed which contains Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cabbage. 

After doing the first three beds I ran out of sticks.  I was desperate to get our corn in the ground so I came up with a new idea...using sand dollars to make my grid.  

 

While there weren't any strings, it gave me a nice, unique grid that I was able to plant in.  I planted corn, green beens, cucumbers in the back bed.  The front bed has corn, sweet peas, and pickling cukes, and the middle is half and half.  

We also finished planting in Luke's garden.  He has squash and pumpkin in the front bed, peas and pickling cukes in front of the trellis and carrots, celery, and zucchini behind the trellis.  He was excited to help daddy water his bed afterwords.  I will say that it is going to be interesting to see what pops up since he has taken other seeds from me too.  

 
Our last bed is a little larger than the rest but still uses the SFG concept.  I ran out of sand dollars though so I didn't get it planted.  If the weather permits we may go to the beach tomorrow to look for more sand dollars to use in that bed and to replace the other beds that have the twine.

 We're hoping to have a fruitful year and be able to preserve many of our own fruits and vegetables.  It will be nice to have lots of fresh produce.