We "1st time" gardened this year here in the Commonwealth...
On advice gleaned here, used a combo of bird netting (inner perimeter) and masonry twine (outer perimeter) to enclose the garden... ZERO wildlife damage or loss, which is amazing given the deer pressure here. The rest was a combo of cliver & horse shat last fall, *very heavy* mulching and large numbers of bright flowers to draw the pollinators. We setup a sprinkler early on, but we averaged 1/2" of rain PER DAY from late June-Aug, so didn't use it much. Too much heat and rain delayed EVERYTHING by months.
We've canned GALLONS of tomatoes (sauce, paste, whole, pickled) and dozens of quarts of pickles (mostly zesty B&B).
We've frozen (an entire upright) full of green beans, squash, zucchini, sweet peppers and "several dozen" loafs of zucchini bread ("plain"/blueberry/chocolate).
The dehydrator go a healthy workout for countless piles of herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary, etc.) and a zillion cherry tomatoes (general snacking/powdered for flavor &thickening)
Have a few things left for fall, but silly weather has only left some snow peas alive. Will drop garlic (if/when it arrives) and call it it good.
All in all, we're happy with the outcome and already tweaking next years layout (where it goes within the space, adjusting quantity/varieties, and potentially clearing more space)...
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