The wire cages I manufactured to protect my vegetable garden have worked out great! They are very light and easy to lift off my raised beds. I can now report with confidence that they are also effective in preventing chipmunks and gophers from ravaging your harvest. The pvc handles on top are a must for easy removal and replacement. See my September 2009 posts for more information on these cages and their purpose.
I added a third irrigation tube in the center of the bed to better distribute the water. Prior to that I was hand watering my new vegetable seedlings to get complete coverage. All of my raised beds and fiberglass barrels are now on timed irrigation and it has been working beautifully. We have been enjoying radishes, romaine lettuce and spinach for the past two weeks. I have been picking off the larger leafs for our evening salads which seems to promote speedy growth of the remaining smaller leaves. I did this last fall and was able to keep ourselves in salad fixings for months. 
Tomatoes are just now starting to ripen. I had 5 plants before the chipmunk invasion but am now down to one. Still, there are plenty growing and they will liven up our salads for several more weeks.
This is my third attempt to grow snap peas in the desert. So far, so good, but I am bracing myself for the worst. I am hoping that consistent watering provided by my make-shift irrigation system (see prior blog posts for construction and layout) will make a difference this time. My wife loves snap peas so I have to get this right!
8 comments:
Thank you, honey:) Are snap peas the same as snow peas?
Wow, the raised beds look great. With the cages they would protect against the Alaska version of chipmunks and gophers: moose. Well done!
Christine
We have referred to your blog several times and wished I had done so again 3 days ago. I knew better than to plant snow peas in July. My failed crop from late April and an empty plot got the best of me. The rest of the garden is looking fabulous and we do love the snow peas. The seeds were sown into a 3 brick high raised planter with green shade cloth already in place. Any suggestions?
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith - I love snow peas, but my luck with them in the desert has been tepid at best. Definitely a cooler season crop so I would wait until after the summer heat has eased up to get started. I think it is GREAT you are getting your beds up and running!!! Experience is the best teacher so just keep on planting and adjust as you go. Brad.
Well done on the success with growing plants. Not easy to grow on a bed like this, cut off from the ground. You must have extensive knowledge and experience (sometimes also based on non-successes)
Great post! I am sure that every gardener wants to secure their plants from different harm. Anyway, I enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for sharing.
-seff-
I really like the veggie pictures. I love to vegetable garden in Tucson too! What are you growing this year?
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