I thought I’d share some photos of the latest garden happenings. The weather has been pretty nice here lately.
When I’m not painting, I’m playing in the dirt. And yesterday the HH fired up Manny and tilled up a little area in front of the fence for me.
The plan is to plant this area with peony tubers later this fall. I didn’t want to leave the space empty so I decided it would be a great spot to grow some cucumbers and zucchini. 🙂
The HH thought it was a crazy idea, but I was like… Why not? I might as well use the space and grow some vegetables.
Who knows… Maybe I’ll sell enough cucumbers and zucchini to actually pay for the peony tubers. I guess we’ll find out together.
I planted 15 cucumber starts along the back of the fence {I’ll add a little netting for them to cling to once they get going} and 5 zucchini plants towards the front of the space.
I also planted a bunch of pole beans along another section of the fence. And have plans to grow some gourds and mini pumpkins along another section.
Why not? And did I mention I started 10 foot sunflowers alongside the house? That will get people talking. 🙂
In the backyard, the Vego raised garden beds I planted with seedlings are doing really well.
The tomatoes are looking really, really good! All 32 plants. I’m excited to see how many tomatoes we’ll end up with this year. I’ll have to ask Kiln Guy if he planted the ones I gave him last week.
Three of the raised beds are planted with assorted tomatoes, carrots, beets, green beans, turnips and basil.
I finally got around to thining the carrots yesterday.
This garden bed has three rows of leeks, 2 rows of green beans, radishes and a few peppers. Once the radishes are ready to harvest I’ll plant another row of beans.
At this rate we should be picking green beans all summer.
The elevated garden bed has radish, cabbage, chives in it right now. Once I harvest the radishes I think I’ll plant another round of beets.
I told the HH we should get at least two more {four would be ideal} raised garden beds for the backyard.
He just rolled his eyes.
But look how well the cabbage are doing!! This is the bed that is filled with about 80% Pro Mix. I LOVE Pro Mix.
If you are container gardening and haven’t tried it yet in your beds or containers, give it a whirl.
Remember the rhubarb I started from seed? It’s doing AWESOME. I just need to find a spot for all of it.
Same goes with all the Shasta daisy seedlings I have.
And last but not least… Mini pumpkins. I had a few old seed packets and thought I’d see if I could get the seeds to grow.
About half of them did. 🙂
It’s so nice to be able to have a real vegetable garden again. Fingers crossed I’ll have enough to set up a little stand towards the end of summer.
But you know what would help? Four more garden boxes! HH are you reading this? I seriously don’t think you can ever have enough garden boxes.
Vegetables are cool!
What’s growing in your garden these days? Anyone harvesting tomatoes yet? Curious minds want to know.
~Mavis
Erin says
Everything is looking so good! Our tomatoes are leggy but are finally starting to bush out a bit. They had plenty of light but were in their grow pots for too long & kept getting too cold. Same with the peppers. The turnips are doing great. Late for them because we had to take an unexpected trip out of town, but we got lucky with the weird weather last month. I’m growing potatoes in pots for the first time ever. That’s been so much fun. They were just sprouted grocery potatoes, so we’ll see if they actually produce anything. Blueberries have lots of berries. We’ll see if the birds get them before we do! We made a smaller vego bed (6-in-1) of raspberries to keep them contained & they’re starting to fruit. Our rhubarb seems to be done (it was a transplant this year, so still working on establishing) & the strawberries are starting to ripen. We have those two together, with chives & green onions in a cute, round vego bed. We tried corn starts this year, from seed. They’re in the bed now & the beans are planted beside them. We’re trying our hand at a Three Sisters garden bed for those. Should be fun to watch. Lots of herbs & such are thriving, but we’ll see about the tomatoes & peppers. Our cucumbers & summer squash are struggling like the tomatoes & peppers, too. We got new bulk soil from a local greenhouse, but I’m wondering if it has too much compost (50/50 mix). Or maybe I over fed when they were still seedlings. Who knows! It’s all a fun experiment!
Dawn says
I can’t have a vegetable garden where I live but I do so love to watch yours grown and live my gardening life vicariously through you!
Margo says
I’ve been harvesting Thornburn’s terracotta tomatoes and hope to make some fermented salsa later. My other tomatoes should start ripening in a week or two. Already pulled my green beans and put away many pounds of them in the freezer for later. Picking cucumbers and have done some refrigerator pickles and 2 jars of fermented pickles. Love this time of year! Hope to put in another crop of bush beans soon. I wind the garden down a bit come August when it’s just too hot to continue. Enjoy your garden and get the other 4 raised gardens, too!
Rosemary says
My garden is doing well – harvested almost 40 lbs of veggies so far. I am fighting with fungus, powdery mildew and leaf miner larvae – I am not winning yet but I am hopeful!
PS: in other news, my Etsy shop is now closed. I had 7 years of fun with it. The focus is now on the garden and canning the veggies.
Ellen Wagner says
Thinking of you and remembering sweet Lucy.
Randini says
I have a rhubarb ‘border’ around two sides of the lawn and garden. All grown from one cutting a coworker brought in 26 (!) years ago. There are 25+ full plants now that come back each year.
Cathy Strasser says
Everything in your garden looks great!
Judi Y. says
Wow! You have such a gift with gardening…..and everything else you do! The garden is beautiful!
Annette says
No vegetable garden here, but my pollinators garden is beautiful. Sunbelievable sunflower (which came back after winter!), butterfly milkweed and bee balm.
I can’t wait to see your giant sunflowers.
Joely says
This is so great to see. I love gardening season! I cannot believe how big and beautiful your rhubarb plants are from seed. Wow!
Lynda Rees Kling says
Plant something besides zucchini! Have you heard the joke? Why go people in New England only lock their cats in summer?
Do people don’t leave them zucchini…it’s everywhere.
Diana near Atlanta says
Already harvested: garlic, 3/4 onions, broccoli, spinach, peas, celery, potatoes, banana peppers, bell peppers, 5lbs blueberries, asparagus, strawberries, carrots
Still growing/harvesting: tomatoes, squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, green beans, cukes, peanuts, citrus, apples, peaches, red table grapes (1st harvest ever!), more onions, blueberries, strawberries, green beans, carrots, peppers
I’m still starting seeds and have open spaces now that some has been harvested. Unfortunately, the heat is starting to hit, so some crops are done til late summer sowing for fall harvest. Most of my green beans and pumpkins/squash never germinated, so I’m trying again with fresh seed. Also doing succession planting with the cukes.
I’m experimenting with growing peas in the shade in front of my house. I’m curious if they’ll succumb to the heat without the sun beating down on them.
Other than the blueberries and grapes, it’s been a terrible fruit year. Only a few berries from the vining plants. We had a late freeze that got all of the blooms/leaves on the trees, so only a couple of apples and peaches – no mulberries or plums at all.