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Well, things keep moving right along here in the garden...with or without my help - :) It has been very hot here with not a lot of rain fall - but luckily we are allowed to water at certain times...so I have been keeping up with that. I am still enjoying the results of all my hard work over the fall and winter (with things being somewhat more low maintenance) I have decided that that is definitely the way to go!
During a good session in the garden the other afternoon, I was able to capture these picts:
Butterfl
y bush is looking great!
Daylilies doing their thing:
Looking
forward to my canna blooms!
Northe
rn Mountain Oats that I ordered on line last year are doing well and I look forward to them naturalizing a bit:
Oak Leaf Blooms turning pink:
Here is a view of the veggies from the back of the back yard:
I just love the shot of color that the marigold give...makes a great view from the kitchen window:
Althou
gh, I did have to pull out all the broccolli due to that yucky wormy thing they got...just like last year! I guess I am just not cut out for broccolli growing :(
The corn is doing its thing:
But, has some yuck on it! This is my first time to grow corn, so I am not sure what to do about this or if it will effect production:
I am loving the purple pole beans! They are SO pretty and yummy too!
And, the spaghetti squash is jumping out of its bed!
Here is a good shot as you come around to the front yard:
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The turks cap lilies are just starting to bloom. I can always count on these guys!
Getting ready for my hibiscus blooms!
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The little knockouts that i planted at the base of the sculpture are blooming and i know they will fill in nicely!:
Here is the view as of late as i sit on my front porch:
And finally...the view of the front yard from across the street:
Can you tell most of what i have planted along the street was to block off the view of the rental house across the street from us - HAH! Guess its working :)
Well, with record temps in the mid to high 90's for the last couple of weeks, the mid 80's feel cool! So, it has been a bit more enjoyable to get out into the garden lately. I am still just focusing on routine maintenance: weeding, pruning and mowing. I have decided not to do much planting this season...mostly b/c I did so much over the fall and winter and I think I should give it a bit of time to see how things fill in. Also, we haven't had much rain and I would really have to keep up on the water. Plus...time is limited with a toddler and an infant-HAH!
So,
I have enjoyed watching the results of my hard work over the fall and have been really enjoying to "fruits" of the companion plantings in the veggie beds!
The beans are producing daily and its fun to have to two different varieties. They taste about the same, but make a nice presentation on the plate :)
We have also had enough blackberries to get a bowlful daily and my daughter eats most of them before we even get inside the house!
We have already harvested 4 of the asain eggplants and there are a few more out there almost ready to go. The itialian eggplants are getting bigger every day:
We have a TON of little baby spaghetti squash on the vines - hooray!
And, here is a good shot of the companion system at work...
On another note, the crepe myrtles that were planted 4 years ago as a screen on our property line are really looking good this year and provide a great view from our sunroom and back porch:
And, our little birdie family in the dogwood is about to be all grown up...we have so enjoyed watching them! I will be sad to see them go:
This weekend, I plan to get the creek weedeated and do some more weeding and pruning. Hope you all have a great gardening weekend!
At the beginning of the season, I set out on my first companion planting vegetable garden. Well, some things are doing great and some aren't . So, I thought it about time for an update...
We had our first harvest of bush beans the other day. My girl helped me pick them :)
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The bed they are in is looking pretty good. The sugar snap peas that were supposed to grow up the teepee never quite made it (I think it got too hot too fast) So, I picked up some zucchinini seeds to try instead. I also have sweet potatoes, calendulas and radishes in this bed. The radishes are ready to be harvested, but I am still waiting on the other things.
The beet, carrot, okra, brussel sprout and broccoli bed is looking good. The marigolds in it are about to bloom. I picked up some spinach seeds to try to use to fill in the corners of this bed:
The Spaghetti Squash and Pole Bean bed is explosive. I think we may have squash growing all over the place - HAH!
No production yet, but lots of flowers! The corn is looking good too:
As far as the companion planting goes, most of the flower seeds that were intended to be the companions for pest control did not germinate, or if they did, they did too slowly so the veggies just crowded them out. However, so far not much is affected by pests. The most I have seen is ants and they never seem to do too much damage. I am missing the shot of color that I was hoping for with all the flowers though...maybe I should have bought more as plants.
The blackberries are starting to ripen and we enjoyed the first picking last night. Funny thing is that a thornless rasberry that I bought off the internet last year has fruit on it but it appears a though they are blackberries. HMMMM???
The grapevine that I planted last spring is growing nicely and I have high hopes for it!
I worked on some weeding back by the creek and did resort to using roundup of some of the privet and grapevines. Its proving to be a lot to keep up with back there and I can't let all of my hard work of clearing it out go to waste!
On another note, the Great Gunnera bulb that I purchased a few months back never grew, so the company sent a replacement and we got that replanted by the creek. This time, we planted it more in the water with a chicken wire cage around it for protection. Hope it works, I can't wait to watch this plant grow if it does.
Till next time...
It is VERY hot here lately...feels more like july than early june. So, I have mainly doing light futzing in the garden and took some time yesterday and this morning to get some picture updates of recent garden happenings...
We haven't had rain in a while, so I am having to keep up on the watering. Mostly of the veggie beds...they are looking good:
Things are growing fast and everything has flowers so I am looking forward to big harvests soon! Yesterday, my 2 1/2 year old ate a sweet gypsy pepper right off the plant. She ate the whole thing! I bet if I had put that on a plate and served it to her she wouldn't have even touched it - HAH! We also enjoyed the first 3 cherry tomatoes...very tasty!
The Blueberry seems to be happy in its new home, so we may actually have a harvest this year!
I thought this lavender was big last year...but this year, WOW!:
The gardenia bush that I bought very small for $5 , 3 years ago is blooming this year for the first time...smells SO good!:
The Easter Lily that we dedicated 2 years ago at church for my daughter's first Easter is now happy in the garden and blooming away:
The datura bed looks amazing this year. Hear is a pict of what it looked like this time LAST YEAR:
And this year:
What a difference a year makes! The only bummer is that the purple datura that I added last year didn't seem to reseed this year, so I am hoping I can find another one at the nursery this year to try again...
Last year:
THIS YEAR:
Also, the new berm is filling in nicely. Last year pict:
THIS YEAR:
I love looking back at old picts and seeing progress!
And, last...but not least....the abelias that were planted 5 years ago (one of the first things we planted when we moved in) are looking great and blooming right now. We planted them to block out the view of the the neighbors yard (or lack their of) across the street. I would say they have done that job!
Have a great gardening weekend everyone!
I had a good weekend in the garden. I was able to get a lot of routine chores done. Mostly weeding. I am happy to report that things are looking pretty good! We haven't had a good rain in a while, though...so things are a bit wilty. My watering time is tomorrow morning, so I will hopefully be able to help that situation soon.
The veggie beds are just growing like mad and I am looking forward to a bountiful harvest! Everything looks pretty good so far, but the broccoli is already showing signs of trouble (like last year). I think I may just be better off buying this at the store. HAH! Also, it seemed to have gotten too hot too fast for the sugar snap peas and the spinach, so I am going to fill in the holes with some similar warm season varieties. We did harvest the first sweet Gypsy pepper over the weekend and it made a nice addition to our dinner salad:
I also collected another bowl full of radishes today that I will add to our salad tonight. This time I will just cut them up raw and forgo to greens.
Today, while working on the weeding in the back, I noticed that my astillbes seem to have mealy bugs, so I sprayed them with insecticidal soap - hopefully that will help. Also, The Bearded Irises that had the aphid infestation got a nice trimming way back on the affected foliage. It looks better. I am hoping that I didn't cut so much back that they will have trouble storing up nutrients for the blooms next year...we shall see.
So, tomorrow I hope to get some watering done in the morning and I will continue to do some weeding in the front.
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