Last night I went around the garden and snapped a few pictures to share. All those Shasta daisies I started from seed? Well they’re doing great!!
This time next year we should be swimming in a 3 foot border of them in front of the white picket fence.
And the baby pumpkins and spinner gourds I planted on the inside of the fence?
They’re taking off too. The pumpkins! They’re on the way. I can’t believe it. Just look at those big beautiful blossoms.
Fingers crossed the pumpkins make it with all the people and dogs that walk by everyday.
Call me crazy, but this one looks a wee bigger than the sugar pie pumpkin variety. Only time will tell I suppose.
You know what else is doing really well? The lavender I started from seed this spring. Lavender is SO EASY to grow from seed.
If you love lavender you should give it a go. You’ll be so glad you did. Bees love lavender!
I wasn’t expecting to harvest fresh lavender bouquets from this border of 18 plants this year, but it looks like we will.
The {8 foot} green bean towers on the side of the house are in tip top shape as well. I think I planted 2 with Kentucky pole beans and one with Christmas limas.
I’m not sure if the limas will have time to dry on the vine but maybe. We’ve still got about 6 weeks to go before the weather can get a little iffy.
Clearly, we overlooked a zucchini on our daily rounds. Ha!
Marmalade skies, black pear and Juilet are my current favorite tomatoes from the garden.
The carrots finally seem to be getting bigger. Also, we need to make some bacon cheddar jalapeno biscuits. Man those are good!
And last but not least, yesterday’s lunch. Tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet onions with Italian dressing. Keep it simple. That’s my motto.
I hope you have a great day.
~Mavis
P.S. Are you growing pumpkins this year? Are they bigger than mine right now? Curious minds want to know.
JulieP says
Despite having an extraordinarily hot and dry summer so far our tomatoes beans cucumbers are doing brilliantly. We didn’t grow pumpkins this year as have quite a lot of puréed pumpkin in the freezer but we did grow butternut squash and they’ve gone wild. With some huge ones hiding underneath the leaves! Simple salads they are just great and then roasted veg with some protein and a bit of feta cheese just lush! 🙂 I’m a happy woman even though autumn is just around the corner!
Lj says
What variety of lavender did you plant?
My lavender died off weeks ago
Mavis Butterfield says
English lavender.
Nan says
Make Zucchini ravioli with the big zucchini so good you just need one of those wide vegetable peelers don’t know what they are called
I fill them with cottage cheese or ricotta red sauce and mozzarella on top recipes online
Lynn from NC Outer Banks says
Mavis, I’m so jealous of all your produce. You are an amazing gardener! The weather has been really dry here and then very rainy. The inconsistency took a toll on our tomatoes. We’ve got one lonely grape tomato plant still producing. Back in the day the tomatoes would bear til December. We do have peppers and jalapeños still.
In your biscuit recipe, you refer to “pickled “ jalapeños. Are these sweet, like candied jalapeños or savory like regular jalapeños? I think those would be a hit with my family so I wanted to get it right. Thanks.
Rosemary says
I might need to get some lavender seeds . . .I now have bins on the outside of my garden for flowers, etc.
I got zero pumpkins. I just don’t seem to have much luck with them. But the rest of the garden is doing pretty well. I have harvested about 75 lbs of veggies so far and the green beans, eggplants and banana peppers are still producing. I planted a 2nd go round with cucumber seeds and I now have vines with flowers – hoping to get some cucumbers.
Considering how hot it has been here – near 100 every day – I am quite pleased with the garden overall.
Judi Y. says
Wow! You definitely have a gift! I’m having trouble keeping my grass alive in Texas. I so want to be like you and I keep trying but it just hasn’t happened yet.
Nancy says
Did you know you can scratch a face or your initials into the pumpkins and it will scar and grow with the pumpkins? Well you can!
Diane says
Once your lavender plants are mature, will they bloom all summer long or do they just have a 2-3 week bloom time in the garden? Does anyone know which lavender would be best in the Atlanta area of Georgia? I don’t think it’s supposed to do very well down here. Thanks!
Mavis Butterfield says
I harvested the lavender from our older plants about a month ago and the plant is still green. I didn’t harvest all the stalks of lavender {left about half for the bees} and those are still in {dried} bloom.
Mrs. M says
Hi Mavis,
How do you keep the grass from growing in the flower/garden beds!? That photo of the beautiful lavender shows just how tidy the edge looks.
We gardened near our lawn, and could NOT keep the grass out. It completely took over.
Mavis Butterfield says
The HH uses an edger on the border every other time he mows. If a sprig of grass pops up in the mulch, we simply pull it up. Maybe heavy mulch is the answer?