As you have been reading on JohnsonCountyEvents, I have been doing a series on starting a backyard garden to help offset the cost of groceries. This can also be used as family time to spend with the kids without the distraction of electronic games or phones.

This past week I received a thank you email from a person I shared some cantaloupe plants with. She told me her 2 girls check on the plants everyday along with the other plants they had started from seed charting they growth with a smile in anticipation of the harvest ahead.

Remember we are at the beginning of the growing season for warm season crops so you have lots of days ahead of you weeding and keeping the garden in good shape. Doing this will help you with the cool season plants you will want to grow in the fall. Just keep building the health of the soil by adding compost and mulch, then you can (if you have the room) expand the garden each year to grow more of a variety of plants.

A big challenge will be to keep critters out of your plants. Dogs, cats, squirrels, birds, rabbits and many more creatures will be attracted to you food, so be prepared to protect you prize plants. Laying netting over the plants will help to keep most of the pest out and allow the sun to shine and the plants to grow, just make sure you check the net on a regular basis that it is not holding the plants down.

You can sprinkle hot pepper around the garden to deter any curious critters from munching on your greens. But the only sure fire way to keep everything out is have a family member dress up like a scarecrow and stand out in the garden. Now I recommend having several members do this so they can work in shifts. Maybe you could barrow a neighbors family member if you can’t get any of your own to help, but if not, be prepared to lose a few things to nature.

This JohnsonCountyEvents.com member thinks that if you share plants forward, it will be returned back to you someday many times over.