Mother Nature 1; Chris 0

Lately, I've been spending a lot of time looking at gardening books, magazines and web pages.  It is beginning to cool down here and my thoughts always turn to the garden this time of year.

Our vegetable garden was a mostly a bust this year.  Every cucumber was bitter, the ground squirrels (we have at least a hundred of them) got every tomato, and my zucchini produced not one squash!  Can you believe it?  Zucchini, which I am usually giving away by the basket full, DID NOTHING!

The corn is ready and the few ears we have tasted are good.  The squirrels don't seem to like the eggplant, so perhaps we'll get a few of those.  Basically, I'm just finished with the vegetable garden for this year...

On the bright side, I have developed some plans to rework the landscaping around the house.  I've been trying to turn what is basically California pasture land into an English garden.  NOT WORKING, the grass always wins! So, I am going to defer to Mother Nature and try to do thing "her way"!

The photos below show one idea I intend to incorporate on a blank wall between our two back decks.  Don't you love it?  A trellis similar to this will provide interest without giving the grass any place to grow!  There, take that you darned grass!

I realize that a structure like this will require maintenance to stay looking nice, but I am willing to do that.  Maybe the whole garden needs to go vertical??  Ha!

What gardening challenges have you had this year?