This year I decided to expand the garden a bit and grow a few more things. Growing up we had a few large gardens through the years so I thought it was time to get my girls in on the action. So we built a couple of raised beds and used a few large growing containers to grow three kinds of heirloom tomatoes, onions, carrots, lettuces, cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers and cantaloupe. Now I had grown cantaloupe before when we lived in the country on a lot of land but in a subdivision, in the backyard and in a raised bed I wondered how to contain those snake-like cantaloupe vines…a trellis.  I did some research and found that training the vines is easy but once the cantaloupes get a certain size it’s best to make a sort of “hammock” for them to rest and grow in so they don’t drop off from their own weight. Old nylons/pantyhose work best as they let the water dissipate quickly so the melons won’t rot. Worked like a charm. We harvested six melons and lost four more to the birds but nothing beats the look on my girl’s faces when they tasted a melon that they planted, watered and cared for. Priceless.