Cathy Deutchman sent me a few photos of her new Croton garden. She was one of  the new gardeners that I quoted in my article that ran this weekend.

Her seedlings:

“Zev and I spotted the hedgehog this morning and watched it for a while,” Cathy says. “Though we didn’t catch him in the act, we’re not certain the chicken wire fence is working yet. After the hedgehog left the garden we wandered down to inspect and noticed some of the cucumber leaves had been nibbled upon.”

That’s Zev, 6, with Ella and Maya, his 8-year-old twin sisters.

And here’s word from Alison Lazarus, with a few photos of her ambitious garden:
“I was happy to see your article in Saturday’s paper.  I too am
venturing into the vegetable patch planting a first garden this
year.  I’ve attached a few photos.

“My project was a bit more  involved than just finding a sunny spot on my property.  The best  sunny spot was on a 1/3 acre that we owned which has been an overgrown and inaccesible from the time we bought our house 15 years  ago.

“To get to the sunny part, we had to first clear the land and then prepare it for gardening.  Only a portion of it being earmarked  for veggies—the rest will be a combination of lawn and a “rain  garden” for a wet low spot.

“I found help on Craigslist where I connected with a great local landscape/garden design and installation firm.

“The garden looks good  now—I haven’t taken a picture now that my deer fencing is up and  we’ve got grass.  I’ve got lettuces coming up, tomatoes, beans, peas,
and some herbs.

“I am not a very experienced gardener, but I’ve been reading books and
picking the brain of everyone I know, as well as web-research.

“Oh, and I have a full time job and commute into Manhattan.  So this
is something I am doing mostly on weekends.”
Alison Lazarus