Gardening

KrystinasCrossings.com - she just put up an entry about being vegetarian in Budapest.

We don't hill the individual potatoes. It's a non-edged raised bed. When the soil has enough organic content, you can make a good sized rounded row and it will hold its form even in heavy rains. I use that entire bed for potatoes. There's one parallel to it that's half asparagus and half onion. Then there's a perpendicular bed of the same size for the tomatoes, peppers, and whatever else we decide to grow. The remaining part of the rectangle is a perennial bed that's gorgeous from spring to fall (various bloom times and colors - took some planning).

We dense plant and even still we plant radishes and lettuce in between and around everything. Even if it doesn't produce enough to eat, our bunny likes the thinnings and both have extensive root systems they abandon when plucked so that helps build the soil.

We also have a 16'x4' herb bed on the other side of the house that started out looking so empty and is spilling over the sides now. One 4'x4' section is dedicated to basil, but the rest of it is just "whoever wins gets to stay" space. I built it a few years back and my wife loves it. And yes, it has parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

On top of all of that, we have a shitload of containers going with mints, chives, annual flowers, hot peppers, and whatever else we decide to try container planting. The banana mint and cilantro escaped years ago and live a happy coexistence with the roses, small shrubs, and blueberry bush. Garlic just gets planted wherever there is space. Every August, my wife has all of the ingredients from our own garden to make the most kick-ass salsa I've ever had - anywhere. No matter how much she makes, it doesn't last long.

As for the squash bugs, we have a daily chore (rotates) to go out and squash the eggs. It works very well, but I've had seasons where they pretty much destroyed the leaves and the damn plant kept producing more fruits! The same with our tomatoes. They can be brown and ugly but for some reason they keep putting out flowers and making more fruits. I think the key is to establish a strong root system early and that provides the strength when they can no longer rebuild their own. The plant sort of sacrifices itself for the sake of making fruits.