So, what are some of the advantages of living in the country? Well, one of them is having plenty of space to garden! Since we're planning on lifting up the house and replacing the basement, I haven't put any effort into growing any plants next to the house. Instead, I've been working away in my little garden plot in the backyard. The picture on the right is a small map of my garden.

By far, the watermelons are the best growing plants in the garden. The watermelons are quickly overtaking the entire garden. I keep trying to corral the vines into the original 4' x 5' square I had plotted out for them in the garden. But, that has proven to be futile. I've now switched to just trying to train the vines to grow between the rows rather than smothering out the other plants. Unfortunately, I do think the watermelons have corrupted one of my plants... a cucumber plant. Since the cucumbers are a little more rounded than their counterparts on the other cucumber plant, I'm thinking they crossed with the watermelons. I'm just hoping that my watermelons didn't cross with the cucumbers.

The garden is also a fun place for the pets to explore. Shiro is often mesmerized by all the things growing in the garden. Although, I think his fascination with the cucumber/melon was spawned when a small toad lept off of it and made the cucumber/melon wiggle. Shiro is convinced that with a little gentle prodding the plant will spring back to life again.

Next to the watermelons, the lettuce is the next best growing veggie in the garden. We have three varieties of lettuce in the garden: green leaf, romaine and butter. Most people are familiar with green leaf and romaine lettuce. However, not as many know about butter lettuce.

Butter lettuce, as its name suggests, is so tender that it melts in the mouth like butter, particularly the heart, when the lettuce is picked at dawn. It forms a loose head of large leaves resembling an open rose. The name "Boston," though typically North American, may be found anywhere. The flavor of butter lettuce is very subtle: it lends itself to countless creative pairings.

The strawberries have also been very good producers so far this year. Tyler and I have enjoyed about a dozen strawberries from the garden this year. Since they were only planted this Spring, that is really pretty good. I planted the Ozark Beauty variety of strawberries. Tyler and I can't get over the difference in taste between the fresh from the garden and store bought strawberries. The garden strawberries are by far sweeter. The strawberries are so good that after Tyler and I eat them we have an uncontrollable urge to smile.

The corn is also looking really good. I think it is standing about 10 feet tall now. The tassels and silk are out. Unfortunately, some beetles that eat the corn silk are also out. I'm not sure if there is anything I can do to keep them off of the corn - since I don't want to spray any pesticides. So, I just keep knocking them off of the ears of corn hoping that will give the corn enough time to pollinate.

Not everything I planted has turned into a success though. The deer went after the edamame, onions and broccoli. So, I'm not sure if those are even going to be able to produce anything for us to eat. On the bright side, at least I know we have deer now. And, the pepper plants have been very slow this year. I planted some of the pepper plants from seed and bought a few others from the store. And, even though the store bought plants were at least 1-2 weeks ahead of the ones started from seeds, they're all the same size. So, if we get any peppers it'll probably be late in the season. At least they're easy to freeze. And, let's not forget my cumelons (cucumbers/watermelons)!