When I returned home from my time in Las Vegas over the 4th of July and found that woodchucks had eaten my garden down to nothing, I truly thought that my 2012 garden was finished.  It was leveled.  In my mind, there was no way that the plants could ever recover.  I mean, remember this picture of the green bean patch?

Looking at the destruction, I figured there was no way that these stripped stems and branches could ever recover, let alone produce vegetables to eat.  I was wrong!  Nature (as I have said many times before) always surprises.  Well, Nature has surprised me again and I am glad to tell you that with a number of hot and sunny days coupled with some rainy days thrown in the mix as well, my garden has come back from the dead.  Not only has it quickly grown back, but I have also picked vegetables to eat in almost every grouping that I planted this Spring.  Take a look at a few shots of the destroyed green bean patch as it looked this weekend.  Pretty amazing recovery, huh?

Not only has the patch grown back, but the plants have bloomed and started to deliver delicious green beans to pick and eat.  I would have never dreamed of picking a single bean back around July 4th.

The next hardest hit grouping were the tomatoes.  The woodchucks had done a fine job of eating them down to only their stem and branches.  Not one leaf could be found.  The tomato plants looked like weird little stick designs.  It was hard to tell that they were ever a tomato plant.  Not anymore.  The tomato plants have flourished given our weather as you can see in the shot above and they are trying their hardest to give us as many tomatoes as possible before Fall begins.  Take a look at these little fellows.

I don’t want to forget to mention the eggplant, turnips and beets as well.  They were mowed down to the top of the soil by the evil critters and have come back with a vengeance.  The eggplant, in particular, are now closing in on two feet tall!

So here is one of my learnings from the 2012 garden.  Never give up on Nature.  Just when you think you are down for the count, Mother Nature seems to always pull a fast one to bail you out.  Who says you can’t perform magic tricks in the garden?  My garden is proof to show you that Mother Nature is quite the magician.