Gardening and Wildlife

Garden - 6 pepper plants.....................Wildlife - 1 pepper plant.

I started out with 7 pepper plants. I planted my raised bed garden and I didn't have any problem with wildlife (deer) until the other morning. I knew there was a herd of 10 - 12 deer in our area. I hadn't seen them this year...........still haven't seen them...........only the evidence of a sad looking pepper plant left behind.

I'm not mad at the deer............I should have already put a fence around my small garden to protect it.

Rich and I had bought a screen room to put up in the yard. We wanted to be able to sit outside without the flying bugs bothering us this summer. Rich thought that it would be a lot easier to buy another screen room and put it up around the garden than put up a fence. So I went back to Wal-mart and purchased another screen room for the garden. So far it seems to be okay. I go out and unzip the flaps so the bugs and bees can pollinate the plants during the day. Then I go out and zip the flaps in the late evening so the wildlife can't forage for dinner. It seems that the garden is getting plenty of sunlight.

I've been harvesting radishes and onions so far. I see little squash, tomatoes, cucumber, okra, melons and peppers on the plants. The green beans are starting to produce blooms. The beets and carrots are growing.

We can hardly wait for more fresh veggies.

Last week I bought 2 crates (24 pints) of strawberries from the local produce stand. It's about 1/2 mile from our home. I was able to freeze 8 pints berries, made 6 pints of sugar-free jam, dried 4 pints of berries in halves and we had fresh strawberries three times.

The berries were so sweet that you didn't have to add any sugar to them. This is the first year I have made jam without sugar. I got tired of paying almost $4 for 10 - 12 ounces of sugar-free jam or jelly. I don't know why they have to charge so much for foods that people with medical conditions need for their special diets. I guess we are paying for all the artificial flavors and chemicals they use to make sugar-free foods.

Well, I better get off my soapbox and get busy..............or maybe I'll scrap for a while.