Cucumber Harp

Growing vertically in the garden not only helps you save space but it can also help you with pest control. Matt helped me put this 'cucumber harp' together at the beginning of the growing season. I think it turned out to be more of a functional art piece. We used three pieces of bamboo that my neighbor Bill harvested from a lot in our neighborhood. I weaved some regular garden yarn vertically with a spacing of about 6" apart. I also wove three horizontal rows 6" apart on the bottom. Guess how far apart the plants are spaced...6". The bottom horizontal rows are just to give the plants extra support when they are starting off.

We have two varieties of pickling cucumbers and 1 variety of regular heirloom cucumbers growing up the harp. One of the pickling cucumber varieties are heirloom seeds from Matt's Step-Grandmother June. They are white pickling cucumbers and June always shares her yummy pickles with the family. They are a huge hit and I can't wait to try and carry on the tradition. In the last week all of the plants have really took off...climbing and climbing.

I'm happy to see the bees are plentiful in the garden now. I was worried that I hadn't seen that many. With all of the squash and cucumbers showing off their yellow blossoms, the bees are having a good time. I used to run when I saw a bee but now I feel like I have some little helpers in the garden. I really appreciate all of their hard work.

I have been freezing lots of our dill to get ready for pickling. It is an easy thing to do. I never  have been able to use all of our dill when it is fresh. You can trim dill sprigs so that they only have about 1" of stem. Rinse them and pat them dry. Place them into freezer bags. Make sure to push out all of the air. Lay them in the freezer flat and in a place where they will not be crushed. They freeze just beautifully.

Can't wait to eat fresh cucumbers and to start pickling!