I made a decision this year to try to keep all vining vegetables out of my garden.  Last summer we went to Michigan for Fourth of July week and when I came home my cucumbers and squash had taken over the world in the garden.  There was literally no ground to walk on that wasn’t covered in some vine.  Not growing cucumbers was not an option though!

So I did some searching and reading about trellis options and came to my husband with some thoughts.  He is great at turning my dreams into reality when it comes to building projects.  We went to Lowe’s for some lumber and Tractor Supply for panels of cattle fencing and within a couple hours I had this wonderful cucumber bed in the front yard.

Here’s the concept:

We made two 8′ by 1.5′ raised beds from treated lumber and staked them into the ground at the corners and center of each bed.  The beds are about 6′ apart.  Then we bent the cattle fencing panels into an arch and used pieces of rebar to hold them in place at the back of each bed.  Finally, I filled the beds with a mix of topsoil and composted horse manure and planted them.

It’s been about a month and the vines are growing up the fencing pretty well.  I picked my first few cucumbers when we got home yesterday!  They are amazingly easy to harvest because you just walk through the tunnel and snap off the cucumbers.

I also picked some tomatoes in the garden.  I think Cherokee Purple might be my favorite slicing tomato.  What’s yours?

For lunch – after spending hours washing hundreds of eggs, I earned it! – I made myself a beautiful, fresh and delicious meal.  I cooked up a couple eggs with salt and pepper.  Then I sliced a cucumber and cut up a Cherokee Purple tomato and put them on top.  I added a little fresh mozzarella I had in the fridge.  A few pieces of basil from the herb garden, chopped thinly, gave a huge burst of flavor.  Finally, a dash of balsamic and olive oil finished it off.  You can’t beat a fresh-from-the-garden meal like that!  It’s the taste of summer.