Growing Watermelon

This is my second year at attempting to grow watermelon. Last year our watermelon grew to the size of a softball, than Isaac plucked it off the vine. This year I had to beg Kristi to allow me to grow them again. Well, my wish was granted, but my first plant died of some fungi. I am really starting to question myself if I have what it takes to grow them. I am making it my Everest. I will overcome! Two new plants have been planted to replace the dead one. I will keep my fingers crossed.

This years garden

We have revamped this years garden. We took out the big stump that was on the east wall freeing up the space for more strawberry plants. Kristi built a planter space against the east wall last fall and planted raspberry and strawberry starts from our neighbor and friends. We have also cut off two large tree limbs on the elm tree that shadowed the garden last year from the sunlight. By doing this we hope to allow more sunshine in to increase the productivity of the garden and have more plants that will require full sunlight. We have redesigned the garden layout and decreased the amount of tomatoes and pumpkins planted. We planted more corn in a new location in the garden to allow them to receive the most sunlight without shadowing the other plants. We are growing more vegetables that can be frozen for future use, now that we have a large freezer to store the produce in. It should be a great year if we can tame the weeds and keep the chickens from eating the plants before they fully grow..

The Koger's Garden of Eden?

I must confess, that neither of us have a true green thumb, but we really do enjoy having a garden. It consumes much of our Summer outside time. Yes, most of our garden is weeds, and snails, but we still have plenty of vegetables to eat throughout the summer.

We have seen the fruits of our labors from last year's garden. Our pumpkin took 1st place in the Davis County fair within the medium sized pumpkin class. Some pumpkins from the same plant took fifth place at the State Fair. Our grapes took second place in the Davis County Fair last year as well. We have to defend our title at the county fair and move up to first place at the state fair this year. We will see.