Finially we got back

Just returned from 18 days in beautiful Casa Grande AZ, my neighbor ( I'm the new kid on the block) was packing up for the summer in the mountains and he was kind enough to let me pick the rest of his small garden, tomatoes, peppers, basil and parsley. At least I got to mess around a little, sure tasted good. Anyway my two+ weeks were well used as we redid the whole place and I think cleaned for the whole time. These winter houses are more work than they appear when you are just looking. Anyway I located one place for a three by twelve planter and got it approved by the building committee. I know it is not the best size but I wanted the most I could get. I am having it built this summer due to the rules for const. ( to many rules) so it will be ready for MM when we return in Nov. As for my wonderful spring garden that we just left, we returned to find everything still alive. My house checker watered for me. Only one small problem, on his comments page he said, since there are no dogs in the back yard the rabbits have taken possession of the yard. My beautiful Chinese lettuce that was 6 inches when we left is at ground level, the kale has no leaves, the boc choi is stubs,  the lettuce is the  same. This morning I counted 8 rabbits before I let the dogs out, hopefully they will retreat to the pasture where they belong.
    While in AZ I learned several new things, it is very easy to spend a lot of money quickly, they have 2 kinds of scorpions, one bad and the other worse and did I mention  how easy it is to spend money.

Welcome home. You may need to build some of the critter cages like Southern Gardener and others have for when you are gone.

No kidding, I've never had damage like this before. I thought the bugs were bad, but at least the plants are still alive. I went to our monthly food co-op meeting last night and the lady who gave me all the Chinese lettuce gave a presentation on all of her vegetables that she grows that are from China. She had a sample of the lettuce and it was 18 inches tall and had a stem about three quarters of an  inch thick. Of the non eaten plants mine are scraggly and 4 inches tall with no stem. The other lady that also got transplants said hers were like mine. Maybe they don't like to be moved. Anyway we think that if they go to seed the new plants will be better so we can hope. The lettuce is quite good and in Chine they use the stem in stir fry and the leaves in salads and such so it is worth saving.