More Monarchs & Garden update

Reeve is constantly searching on milkweed for more Monarch caterpillars and he found one! Just when I thought we were done for the season. At any rate it continues to be an excellent learning adventure for Reeve and Kyle.
Reeve and Kyle are sitting on the raised bed we made last year. I harvested the garlic and it's drying now. Now this bed has a few carrots, dill, basil, and I started some lettuce mix. I really love this raised bed. It's small but it's such a joy to weed. I get to sit which makes weeding extremely easy. Also since we don't walk in it the soil is really loose. Those garlic bulbs just popped right out. Last year I remember having to dig in hard clay soil and ending up damaging the garlic. The garlic was also moldy (not enough air circulation) last year, but this year it was beautiful. I should take a pic of that soon :-). In front of the boys are Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins.




This is a picture of the new raised bed I started to make. We had a lot of concrete blocks just sitting around. They were previously under the mobile home which thankfully has been removed. I decided I didn't like this raised bed so much. It's a lot of block for little garden space. Then I planted pie pumpkins and buttercup squash which needs loads of room. That was poor planning on my part. It's turning out okay so far, but there will be definite changes next year.
We planted cucumbers on the other side of the first raised bed. Beyond the fence is all burdock and nettles. The nettles have sneaky seeds that fly through the air and land right in the garden. I'm constantly weeding those sharp suckers.





An updated picture of the garden. The cilantro has bolted, the lettuce bolted and I removed it. I planted more spinach, and the kale is coming up. I have to figure out a better plan for the tomatoes next year. They get so huge and overbearing. You should have seen it last year. This year still looks out of control but it's 100% better than last year. The cabbage has been delicious and abundant. As a matter of fact I'm going to make some more cole slaw today. I should try to make sauerkraut, but I haven't worked up enough nerve for that yet.