Return of the Jedi (Gardener)

The Empire had a lot of good qualities with one of them being persistence. They built a pretty amazing space station:  the Death Star was big, could shoot down planets and had a trash compactor with a monster inside.

But, it had one fatal flaw. It had a single exhaust port that could destroy the whole thing. I am sure the engineer that designed that portion did not get extraordinary contributor on his review that year.

In spite of that initial setback the empire persevered and built another one.  That second one was also destroyed but at least they learned from their initial design flaw.

Last year my garden experienced a few set backs as well.

There was a strange bug that attacked many of the plants that has been the scourge of my garden. I vow to find out what type of bug this was and fight it organically somehow. I also expanded too quickly and was overwhelmed with the number of weeds and bugs.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves...

These are my formerly wonderful cucumbers:

Here is an odd looking watermelon:

Kramer used to love hiding in the cucumber trellis. But alas:

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The great thing about gardening is each year is started with a clean slate. The soil is fresh and weed free and last years issues seem like anomalies. 

So, this year I have moved my garden to a different location in the yard and will be focusing on two raised beds. I am going to make the most of these small spaces and try to grow something in every inch of space. I am also going to make sure the soil is really good quality.

Here is a picture of my new location:

So, if anyone has any tips to keep out the vicious cucumber bug or improve soil quality I would like to see your comments.