Friday, June 17, 2011

Summer Garden

Remember when I posted about our little garden earlier in the spring?  We had some major failures and some huge successes.

With the temperatures soaring, our garden is bursting with goodness.

These were our new beds. They haven't done so well. After our friends at The Simple Farm   gave me something to amend the soil with, things began to perk up a bit more, especially in the top bed.  (we love Lylah and Michael! If you're in the area, you have to check out their farm days. You won't be disappointed!)

 

The tomato plants began to green up and get some height and now the flowers have actually produced some cherry tomatoes. Yay!


Our bottom bed, well, it's not fairing as well. It looks better than it did before the amendment, but as you can see, the beans never did do anything and the tomatoes are still really small.  The watermelon plant that we also planted in here (over on the right side of the picture. It's the sprawling weed looking thing)  has begun to really take off. I think it's too late for it to do anything but grow runners, there are no buds or anything resembling any type of fruit on the vine, but it was fun to see it actually grow instead of wither like it was doing just a few weeks ago.  The basil and flowers we planted in this bed also withered and died. No idea why, same soil, water and other conditions as the other beds. For some reason, this bed just didn't do well.

Our raised beds did really well.

 a few cherry tomato plants w/ a mongo zucchini plant


huge zucchini  I know these should be picked much smaller, but this is what happens practically overnight. The kids had harvested other monsters the day before, these weren't big enough for them to notice when they picked the other ones!  
One thing I love about zucchini, it is a plant that anyone can grow! :)

Mint, another plant anyone can grow. 

our overgrowing tomato planter.
(yes, I know, these plants should have been pinched back a very long time ago, but, they weren't and this is the result!)  There is also a very healthy looking basil plant along w/ some nasturtium, which we got the seeds from The Simple Farm! :)  You can't see those plants though, because of the overgrowth of tomatoes! What a problem to have, eh?

Like the tulle? It not only provides an ethereal touch to the garden ;) but it also provides a cheap alternative to shade cloth and keeps the birds out to boot! A gardener friend of mine gave me this tip last year when I was bemoaning the birds attacking our strawberries.  

It gives just enough shade to keep the plants happy and birds can't get through the fabric.  Before we got this up this year, the birds began pecking at our big, juicy, red tomatoes. Boo birds!

Ripening in the sun

This clump has escaped it's shroud
Our strawberries are planted here (as well as the marigolds from last year that have come back bigger and better than before). The strawberries are done producing for the year but they are putting out runners like crazy. 


In an attempt to baby them through our incredibly hot summers, I bought a beach umbrella to keep them happy (I hope). I might end up moving them to our back porch where they will get more shade and I can turn our misters on them throughout the hottest part of the day. I'm going to keep an eye on them and see how they look as summer continues to heat up.

Our patio planters are all doing pretty well. The lettuce gave us some yummy salads, then stopped adding leaves. Instead, it started to grow straight up and up and up!  It bolted pretty quickly. We're letting it go and collecting the seeds.
the remains of the lettuce. The kids had fun picking the leaves off for our chickens. They, the chickens, loved the stuff!




This is my mixed planter. 
I have chard planted new this year, along with chives and shamrocks! from last year. 
the chive is flowering.
who knew Shamrock would still be flowering in 100+ degree heat?

Our last pot, which is a mixture of new and old and is doing really, really well. :)
This is kale (new) along with two types of thyme.  
So fun to be able to walk out my kitchen door and snip some fresh herbs. :)

More flowering herbs, lemon thyme.
I know you're supposed to snip the buds before they flower, but being gone the previous week, they bloomed when we weren't around. Besides, they sure are pretty. :)


That's our garden so far this year.  If you planted a garden, how is yours fairing?

1 comment:

Youthful Pursuits said...

Wow I am so impressed by your garden. I can't wait to move into my own home and get mine planted. Just passing through from the HHH.