Anne Hars’ Top Ramen Keyhole Vegetable Garden

...lanted things that go well in Top Ramen.” Hars is referring to her keyhole vegetable bed that she created this winter. With the keyhole, Hars has made good use of a very small front yard with a dense planting of Ramen friendly veggies including bok choi, three kinds of kale, sunflowers, carrots, peas, garlic, radishes, spinach, romaine lettuce, cilantro and parsley. Anne with husband Bill and Petra the chihuahua. She was inspired by a video by the...

Read…

A Hinged Cover for a Raised Bed Vegetable Garden

...reate a hinged cover for one of my raised beds so that I can easily access vegetables without having to remove the bird netting or row cover each time I want to access the bed. I’ve found that I can remove the netting once the vegetables have matured. To create the cover I made a frame with some 2 x 2 inch lumber and bent some electrical conduit pipe (and a piece of leftover copper pipe) for the hoops. I put some gate hinges on the back, stood bac...

Read…

Build a vegetable prison to keep out raccoons and skunks

.... All that was left to do was screw the whole thing together and staple the 14-Guage welded wire from Home Despot. The access panels have two positions. Down to protect small seedlings: And up to act as a trellis and allow tall plants to grow out the top: I’ve noticed that once plants get established and past the 2-foot point I don’t usually have to worry about those midnight raccoon parties. Obviously, if I had to deal with deer I’d have to build...

Read…

There is Something Beyond the Straw Bale

...s outside of a greater context. What applies to literature also applies to vegetable gardening. You can’t grow vegetables without also considering their relationship to other plants, creatures and human beings. Bale, pomegranate tree and mess I need to clean up. Please note the raccoon poop zone on the slightly subterranean garage roof. Our vegetable garden right now is just one straw bale in the process of conditioning and our philosophy has alwa...

Read…