Suzie gave us a big rectangular planter, designed for tomatoes, a few years back. We’d used it for tomatoes, and they did all right, but I wanted to try sugar snap peas, as the support cages seemed ideal for their tendrils and vines. I put in a six-pack of them early in spring, and after making some decent headway, they were promptly eaten t the dirt by our resident baby rabbits.
Undeterred, they put out new growth immediately afterward, and I actually managed to get a single early pea pod – all sweetness and freshness and green goodness – before they were entirely felled by a midnight rabbit attack.
Discouraged by this, I sowed a pack of cucumber seeds with a dash of annoyance, not really caring whether they made it. They broke through the dirt, took over where the peas left off, and just as I was beginning to get excited for cucumbers, the rabbit feasted on every single vine.
Completely over it, I rolled the planter to the side of the patio and didn’t bother with Plan C. I forgot about it until I noticed a little green growth a few days later. There was one vine in the middle that sprang to life, deep inside the cage and perhaps out of reach of rabbit bites, and this vine rose and rose until a few bright yellow flowers hosted a couple of bees. It’s far too soon to count our cucumbers before they’ve even begun to hang, and chances are the rabbit will find a way in any night to eat it all up before any fruit forms, but I’m holding onto hope again, because that’s what summer is for.
