A few years ago, I began reclaiming lawn space, building raised boxes, and blogging about my adventures in gardening. I think this is year 6 of the ever-growing garden that officially launches late May every year.
The community that @GardenHive has become is for us green thumbs and I think you should check out the intro post here @gardenhive/the-garden-selfie-collection-happy-christmas-to-all-the-amazing-hive-gardeners if you haven't yet. My friends 
This week, I look back at where it all began, and how its going.
Recent Memory
This is about where we left off last summer. Still too much lawn but a decent amount of veggies and berries, flowers and plenty of green. None of the
style green as I leave that to the experts. I am aiming for a similar picture this year, perhaps with more diligent greens harvesting, fewer tomatoes and more cucumbers.
Humble Beginnings
The winter never kind to the garden. A battered colourless war zone in need of serious care. Big enough challenge already right?
This year, we have inadvertently made it more challenging with the addition of Digdgog. This little twit enjoys gnawing, tearing, ripping and digging everything in his path. Turn your head, he is in they large garden box, where the tomatoes would grow, with dirt flying everywhere. What have we done?
Fortification
2 feet of chicken wire might as well not even have been there so it was time to up the game. 4 feet of garden fence around each garden box is how it had to go down. Not only might this deter Diggy McGee from visiting the veggies, perhaps other adversaries.
These little theives were born right in these garden boxes and surely will return to snack on my tomatoes, or completely eat my cucumbers & pickles right at the sprout.
NOT THIS YEAR RABBITS! I have repurposed this guinea pig cage and am using it to cover the pickle and cucumber sprouts from any birds or other visitors tough enough to make it into green Fort Knox.
Early Blooms
Here is the greens bed a week or so in. Some kale in the foreground, red leaf lettuce, head lettuce, a few other assorted greens and a herculean horseradish returning from last year.
The strawberry patch seemed to have quite a slow start. So much so that I bought another plant to split in half and plant in the thin spots. Potentially not necessary as things are booming and we have berries almost ready for the eating just a couple weeks later.
The pepper box is off to a modest start waiting for the blazing hot temperatures to really get going. A nice mix of sweet peppers, jalapenos, hungarian wax, habanero and ghost pepper again for the third year in a row. I have also planted a couple of the the jumbo jalapenos from seeds produced by last year's wonderful plant. They may be late season bloomers compared to the seedlings I purchased this year.
A half dozen tomato plants take up the end of the big bed again ranging from cherry to beefsteak to roma and some fancy colourful heritage variety. The rest of the big bed is planted from seed and just starting to pop. I will have to show them next edition.
Having just gone to war with some of the invasive weeds, I am now left with more desirable invasive varieties like 3 kinds of mint and spreading raspberry forest. The family loves the berries and often use mint for tea all year around.
Will our preparations be enough to fend off Sir Digsalot? Will those rabbits return for their cucumbercide? Will there be anotyhe bumber crop of green beans and hot peppers? Will I get around to making my dream hot sauce completely from garden veggies? You may have to hit follow and tune into future episodes to find out!
Mom started me along my path of growing stuff when I was a kid. Motivated by so many blockchain blogging gardeners, I figured I would plant and share and learn as I reclaim as much grass space as I can. It has turned out to be a fruitful experience and I hope to inspire others to sow and grow no matter what your location or experience level is.
Then, blog about it using #gardenhive tags as we network and curate the journals of other green thumbs, outdoor enthusiasts and fresh whole foodies.
Wherever you are...JUST GROW!
JOIN US ON DISCORD
SUBSCRIBE TO THE LIFESTYLE LOUNGE COMMUNITY HERE
JOIN US ON TWITTER
I am honoured to curate for:
