May 24th 2012, after 3 days of stiff (25-30mph) south and southwest winds, the wind has died down to about 5 mph this afternoon. Inspecting my gardens wind damage I discovered I had 1 cucumber and 1 mild pepper that were fresh garden salad ready. To borrow an Army phase, it was a MRE, (Meal Ready to Eat). While there I discovered at least 1 yellow summer squash that will be ready for picking Saturday Morning.
My native soil is poor, very tight clay. The garden plot was tilled 2 or was it 3 times? Anyway, after an attempt to kill a few weeds and native pasture grasses, I put down 6 small raised bed planter boxes that was loaned to me by a gardener that will not need them this year. Each box is 3 foot square and 6 inches deep.
Long before the first warm days of spring, I filled the bottom 1/2 of the planters [raised bed] boxes with hay and cow dung from the barn. Topped that off with about 3 inches of cheap (insert brand name) $1.20 for a 40 pound bag of what they were calling potting soil. It took 3 to 3 1/2 bags for each raised bed box. I gave it a good soaking with tap water, and watered as need to keep the mix very moist.
By planting time much of the hay had decomposed and I planted directly into the potting / hay mix then mulched everything in well with a course wood chip mulch to help retain moisture in the raised bed boxes. FYI-Slugs are not a problem here. Simply stated it’s to dry for slugs to survive. Grasshoppers is an all together different story!
At this early point in my 2012 garden, this combination seems to be a winner, only time will tell the whole story on how well this approach will work out.
Cantaloupe, cucumbers, watermelon and tomato vines are all showing signs of good growth. The vines all have at least a few blooms and the tomato vines are starting to set fruit. My corn is not doing all that well, but, I’m still hopeful to get a few ears of fresh corn this year.
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Town & Country Gardening 
Your veggies look great. My garden produced some mutant carrots–we did not eat them. 😦
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Re: The Humble Gardener Thanks for finding time to visit my tiny blog.
When you get ugly vegetables chop into small pieces and use in soups and stews or dry them for later use when fresh vegetables are less available and more costly.
Happy gardening
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Wonder your corn grows at all if it is so dry. Glad you don’t have a slug problem though. Somehow this year, the slugs in my garden seem to have got the message they are not wanted and this, even after the recent deluge!
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