I’m really without the words to describe how I felt when I went out to the garden this morning. Ruth, Stinky’s shelter dog (who is a fabulous darling dog, but is clearly not getting the exercise she needs) decimated my garden. I spent hours out there this week, working on controlling the squash vine borers that invaded. My husband and I spent hours and lots of money getting our garden up and running, and seeing all that wasted food and the dead plants brought me to tears. She ripped up all the squash and zucchini, the gorgeous spaghetti and acorn squash, ate all the baby bell peppers, and tore apart the pumpkin vines.

The good news is we still have our herbs, tomatoes, watermelon, peppers, potatoes, and a couple squash vines for winter squashes. The cucumbers are barely hanging on. I’m wanting a few more beds, and so I think this fall we will add them, and then build a more substantial fence. I’ve been wanting a nice picket fence with a gate with an arch over it, to make a really special garden space, so maybe we will do that. Stinky will definitely be helping with construction, that’s for damn sure. And Ruth is going to get more exercise very day, starting now. 

It’s too late in the season here to start anew, but I am planning a fall garden, since we have two growing seasons. I will be grateful for that, and grateful that we don’t depend on our garden for all our food needs. Lesson learned and now we move forward!