As cold and miserable as it may be today, warm weather will soon be here.  With that in mind, it's time to formulate a strategy for this year's vegetable garden.

Last year started out wonderfully, and ended on a somewhat bitter note - particularly where the spinach and lettuce were concerned.  The leafy crops in my newly built vegetable garden box were performing exceedingly well for a first-time gardening effort (more details at makeyournut.com) and I was merely days away from harvesting beautiful bunches of spinach for a truly homemade summer salad.

Sadly, it was not to be.  One day, as I was doing dishes, I looked out of the kitchen window to admire my burgeoning garden to see this huge, brown groundhog, sitting in the middle of my spinach patch.  He sat up, leaves of pristine green jutting from his mouth - he eyed me, concluded that I was no threat, and resumed his feast.  No spinach or lettuce for us last summer.

This year, we are more prepared.  As second-year gardeners, we now have put up a small wire fence enclosing the entire affair.  Sure, it won't stop deer, but hopefully the advanced stage of development of our neighborhood will scare the deer off into less populated areas.