I planted up the vegetable garden this afternoon, so I’m ready to eat all the good things I hope to harvest later this summer. You can’t see too much in this picture of the raised beds where I plant the vegetables, so you will just have to take me at my word that I planted it up today.

The two beds that look white are beds that I covered with white garden cloth to keep the bunnies out. The cloth is supposed to let in 80% of the light. This is my latest attempt to keep the rabbits away from the green beans and strawberries. Once the beans have germinated and have grown to a size where a few nibbles from the bunnies won’t make a difference, I’ll remove the cloth. I am also concerned that the strawberries are already being eaten by the bunnies, so I covered them with some garden cloth, which I will keep on until the plants get bigger and more established.

My summer vegetable garden includes tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, green beans, corn, sunflowers, zinnias, marigolds and eggplant.

The tomato varieties include: Sugary, which is a sweet grape tomato which I first grew last year and loved, so I’ll be planting it every year; Big Boy, an old favorite; Early Girl, because I am trying to get a few tomatoes before the 4th of July; Super Beefsteak, so I can have some of those great big tomatoes that totally cover a piece of bread with just one slice; and Glory, because I wanted to try a new variety and this one sounded good. I also planted two “heirloom” tomatoes, Brandywine and German Johson (also called German Pink) which I purchased earlier today on impulse. The other tomatoes I started from seed back in March.

I planted a new variety of corn called Mirai which is supposed to be super sweet and tender and store well. I hope I planted enough to get good pollination!

I also planted pole beans. This is the first time I have tried pole beans, so we’ll see how it works out. I put up a “teepee” made of bamboo stakes for them to climb on and I’ll use cayenne pepper or something like that to keep the rabbits away from those once they germinate

I’m still enjoying lettuce, radishes, and green onions from the garden, from my early spring planting. However, I don’t think I’ll get too many peas as the bunnies have eaten a lot of the vines. I am still hoping to get a few peas, anyway.

If someone has a good idea on how to keep the rabbits out, LET ME KNOW.