2004 Was A Good Year For Vegetable Gardening

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

It Is 2004  And Time To Plant The Garden

Garden preparations
Preparations are underway... String bean nets are up

Did You Know? - Green beans, also known as French beans (British English), string beans in the northeastern and western United States, snap beans or squeaky beans, are the unripe plant of specific cultivated varieties of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).

Green bean varieties have been bred especially for the fleshiness, flavor, or sweetness of their pods. Haricots verts, French for "green beans", may refer to a longer, thinner type of green bean than the typical American green bean. It is known in some parts of the world as the squeaky bean due to the noise it makes on one's teeth whilst eating.

The first "stringless" bean was bred in 1894 by Calvin Keeney, called the "father of the stringless bean", while working in Le Roy, New York.

2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar.

It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations), International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO), 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization), and the Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar).

Independent o the rest of the world, the Liles household is bust preparing for the summer garden.  Hands and knees forming the beds for the little babies.

Join us to watch them grow throught the summer.

Garden ready to go
Poppy gets help from the troops! Pinky in fromt and
Flower, Sarge, and Mickey bringing up the rear

Vegetables are quite valuable so we have trained a set of vicious Chihuahua's to protect them from people who would make off with them (the vegetables).

The pack is known throughout the neighborhood as wild fierce animals who will, without question, jump up and bite bandits in the ankles causing severe pain to the stomach from the laughter caused by a vicious attack!

Actually, we have to protect the vegetables from the Chihuahua's as they enjoy browsing the strawberries, blueberries, carrots, and other little vegetables!

So beware... you have been warned!

Front Yard

Yes, we have plants in the front yard but we select them not to look like a farm but shrubbery.


Garden 2004
The little lime tree just got born

Garden 2004
Squash in the garden

Garden 2004
We are trying corn this year.... Why not??

Garden 2004
Yup! That is spagetti squash growing in the trees

Preparations & Underway

The preparations are a lengthy process as we have to get rid of last years leftovers, search for weeds, roto-till the ground and add whatever soil amendments we deem proper.

Garden 2004
The water goes into the furrows and keeps the roots moist

Garden 2004
They look sickly but it just transplant shock...

Garden 2004
The peas will be amazing in two months

Garden 2004
A month later and voila

An Arial View (From Our Roof)

I got up on the roof and took some pictures front and back to see what the airplanes see!

Garden 2004
The string beans are attempting to reach me!

Garden 2004
Everything is green

Garden 2004
We even have eggplant on the wall

Garden 2004
String beans along the driveway

Growing Like Mad

During the growing season there are days when one can go to the yard and listed to the vegetables grow.  String beans grow six inches a day and squash can go crazy in a day.

Garden 2004
The grapes are going wild

Garden 2004
Looks a little different from 60 days ago

Garden 2004
Hard to see the composy container

Garden 2004
The whirrlygigs keep the birds at bay