Smarter than a Marmota Monax

A few months ago, I mentioned our Square Foot Garden. I love the idea of gardening this way. It is low-maintenance, essentially weed-free, and perfect for an obsessively organized person who likes things in labelled boxes. This is how ours began last spring….

.This is how it looked a few weeks later:

We watered it every day and watched it grow. Patiently, we waited for our first home-grown feast.

Remember our Grubby Visitor? Not so patiently, he waited for a feast of his own:.

I got up one morning and he had eaten the whole damn thing.

(sigh)

So we tried again this year. This time, Geoff set his brain to Smarter-Than-a-Rodent and came up with this:

See the cage? It worked perfectly. I have been eating fresh herbs, peppers, cucumbers, and sugar snap peas for the last month.

And, for the last few weeks, we have been waiting for these:

Yes, thank-you very much, I do have a lovely pair of firm tomatoes.

Last Sunday, I picked them:

Mixed with pasta, olive oil, garlic, and fresh ground pepper, I had myself a lovely feast and raised my glass of white wine to toast our little friend, the one we haven’t seen in months.

That’s right Mr. Groundhog, my husband is smarter than you and he often smells better too.