Garden Time!!!!

First I have to tell you about the best thing that has happened to me in years in the garden: a new deer fence! Those of you who have seen devastation arrive in the person of Bambi's mother, who have had all your hopeful buds decapitated, your dreams dashed--as I have, in my rose garden, for the last 15 years--will understand my euphoria at an effective and aesthetically acceptable solution to those 4 footed agents of despair.

My garden is behind a 6 foot retaining wall, terraced above my house. I never wanted to fence in the whole thing because it would wreck the view from the house, but this year I finally listened to my husband and fenced in the side the deer have had access to. The front, where the wall is, I left open because deer will not vault up into an area they can't see.

Here us a side view so you can see what I mean. You can't even see the black plastic mesh fence, but it works. There were two deer out there when I went out to take this picture!
But for areas that can't be fenced in, like my entryway, I've discovered this little product, which so far has been effective. It makes the air smell very stinky like rotten eggs for a few minutes, but it affects the taste of the plants for weeks. I cautiously recommend it.

Nothing ruins my ladylike use of language like those $#%^&*()#$%^ deer.

So the rose garden, now deemed "Allie's Playpen", is my territory. Robert is in charge of PRODUCTION, and grows the food in his garden, and a few things for me. He is a much better gardener than I am so I do not mess with his plot, except to do menial chores at his direction. When I am feeling nice.

His blank slate, newly tilled two days ago. Those are last year's uneaten leeks in the upper left corner.

I scanned his plan so you could see what he thinks about what I want him to grow for me...he would much rather grow corn, as you can also see.

A friend of mine from Point Bonita is a seed physiologist for one of the biggest commercial seed growers in the world. When she is done testing the seed they are by law supposed to dispose of the leftovers. She brought 4 giant boxes filled with seed with her to Point Bonita last January so I partook mightily of her offer to take whatever I wanted. These are what will go in my section of Robert's garden....as an experiment: we are just going to sow them like wildflowers. We'll see what comes up.

There are never enough flowers, we know this!