Garden Warrior?

I'm looking for a solution to ward off the intruders in my veggie garden.  Do you think this guy will do the trick?  This is the greeter at one of my favorite farmer's markets.  You can see him a mile away beckoning you to come and partake of the beautiful flowers and veggies being offered.  I guess they will see me less often, as my goal is to grow my own, but I will always find him adorable. 

The Veggie Garden Is In

The tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, eggplant and herbs are finally planted!  With all the rain, getting any gardening or yard work completed has been a major effort.  Excuse the fence row!  We cleared it several weeks ago, but we haven't been able to find two sunny days to get the posts and fencing in place.  The yard will look so much better with the fence in place, but it looks like my patience is being tested so I will have to endure a little longer. 

Back to the garden, I planted 1 Celebrity, 1 Big Beef, 1 Roma, 1 Amish Paste, 1 Better Boy, and 1 Sweet 100 tomato plants.  Two crooked neck squash, 1 Black Beauty zucchini, 1 red, yellow and green along with 1 hot banana, chili, and jalapeno peppers.   I decided to add in a few herbs, oregano, sweet basil, chives and cilantro.  Do you see salsa in my future?  Yum Yum.  I also love fresh squash and zucchini battered and fried, and there's nothing better than a home grown tomato sliced with a little mayo and pepper.  Homemade sauce will be at the top of my list too.  Stay tuned for my first canning experience.     

Most gardeners use raised beds, but my soil is so rich I decided to set my plants right in the ground.  After having a soil analysis performed, it was determined that I just needed to add a little compost.  Besides my grandfather was a row gardener, and I like doing some things the old fashion way. 

I purchased these heavy duty tomato cages from the local Farm Supply store.  They're more expensive than the regular tomato cages, but much larger and studier.  I can use them year after year, I'll store them in one of my storage buildings after the growing season.  

I did a little companion planting to help with the bugs and diseases too.  I planted marigolds with the tomatoes and along the sides of the garden.  I planted dill with the cukes, sweet basil with the peppers, and tarragon with the eggplants.  Marigolds border the squash and zucchini on the west side of the garden and geraniums border the chives and other herbs north.  We'll see if companion planting is beneficial.   I have a ton of cotton tails and groundhogs in my yard, so I had to put up a fence.  Rabbit fencing was the fence of choice.  The grids at the bottom are too small for even the smallest baby bunny to get through.  We used a product by Sweeney to sprinkle around the perimeter.  It's suppose to deter small animals from squirrels to dogs and cats up to a week.  I've never used it before, so we'll see. 

Meet Matilda!  She's been with me for the past 5 years.  I decided to add her to the garden.  Isn't she adorable.   I hope she understands her job, scare away the birds and the critters.  I went out onto the deck last night, and she scared the crap out of me.  I forget I had placed her in the garden, lol.  What do you have planted in your veggies garden?  Did you plant in rows or use raised beds?  Do you use companion planting?  If so, what do you plant?  Please leave me a comment, I'm intersted in knowing the method of planting my fellow gardeners use.