Garden Update: July 2010

At this time of year, there are so many things ready in the garden at the same time.

The peas are almost done. I will pick the final harvest today and pull out the vines.

The onions are almost ready to be pulled and cured for winter storage.

The cucumbers and tomatoes are literally hanging on the vines.

I pick a big bowlful every other day.

The peppers are just starting to ripen and turn colors - red, purple, orange and yellow.

The summer squash is also producing a bunch of nice fat squashes every day.

I didn't take a pic of them, but the eggplant is really, really producing well this year.

Yum! Lots of eggplant = lots of tasty winter meals with roasted eggplant.

The carrots, kale, lettuce and broccoli are also producing huge daily handfuls.

Kiwi and Tansy are happy about lots of fresh bunny munchies!

They are especially loving the big bunches of fresh basil I pick for them every morning.

They also like to eat flowers: pansy, rose petals, phlox and hollyhocks leaves (I like the flowers too much to share with them!).

Looking at the garden from my deck, facing south-east.




Looking at the garden, facing south-west.

In the foreground of this picture, you can see my attempt at a second crop of peas.

They produced about 1/2 a cup, but only grew 1 foot high.

The spring planting grew 3 1/2 feet high and produced about 6 cups.

6 cups is not enough peas! I always want more peas!

Unfortunately, they take up vertical space in the garden and I have trouble finding more room for them to grow where they won't be shaded by other vertical growers.

Facing west.

I let some volunteer radishes grow and go to seed in the path.

They are supposed to keep squash vine borers and other pests away.

It worked last year, but it does make the path very messy looking.

Tomatoes on the left and green beans on the right.

Everyone else seems to be picking their green beans, but mine are not ready yet.

Boo! I love green beans!

Tomatoes.

There was a wilt of some kind that attacked my tomatoes, but I sprayed them and mulched them with grass clippings and they seem to be doing better.

Cucumbers on the trellis.

I love picking a cucumber hanging eight feet up in the air.

So funny!

In this pic we have from left to right - tomatillo, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, painted lady beans, green beans, basil and more tomatoes. There is also some kale, but you can't see it from this angle.

Can I just say I'm glad that I made all my paths 3 feet wide?

All that fussy work this Spring, setting out the beds, was worth it.

Chinese 5 color peppers.

They are starting to change color!

Looking east.

Can you see Catty? She is underneath the arch on the left side.

In this pic - peas, onions, strawberries, kale, eggplant, broccoli, tomatoes, summer squash, sunflowers, green beans and radishes gone to seed.

That's all folks!

I hope you enjoyed the update.

If you have an update on your garden, please leave a link in the comment section, so I can check it out. :)

Garden Update 5-22-10

The allium and white iris are putting on quite a show.

I wish I had been able to get a picture today before the 45 mile an hour wind blew in!

I'm starting on my patio. I was able to pour one set of stepping stones, before it started to rain.

My new trellis. I put it together myself with my new cordless drill. I love my drill!

This is a light pink poppy. It's HUGE this year!

Vegetable garden.

I hate that stupid shed! It shows up in every picture. No one wants it - I've tried to give it away for free even, but it's too much work to take it apart and move it out of my fenced in yard.

Building a Covered Bed

I found some 5 foot lengths of black pipe at the local Menard's store.

They are called black flexible water pipes.

I like them ,because they are precut and I can put them in my car without looking like an idiot driving through town with PVC pipes sticking out of my back window.

Although, I still buy the PVC pipes sometimes - seems like I can't avoid looking like an idiot - at least occasionally.

OK continuing with the tutorial!

I also used a few branches, cut into 8 inch lengths, to hold the pipe in the soil, but I think I may end up using some kind of bracket instead, because the hoops tend to fall over when it rains and the soil gets soft.

Stick, soil, pipe.

Cover with row cloth.

Planting Tomatoes

Before the plant sale I took out the plants that I wanted to keep.

The week after the plant sale was beautiful - sunny, 75F - perfect spring/summer.

So, silly me I planted all my plants.

Two days after I planted everything, we had freezing temps. For. The. Whole. Next. Week.

I covered everything, but the peppers aren't looking so great.

These pictures will probably be the peppers memorial service. Remember those beautiful peppers? Oh, yes they were just starting to live, so sad....taken in the prime of life.

This is how I plant my indeterminate tomatoes.

Dig a nice deep trench and amend with kelp (fertilizer) and crushed crab shells (calcium).
Put the tomato to bed in the trench and pull the soil covers up to its leafy chin.


Water deeply.

This is how close I plant my tomatoes.

Remember I grow my tomatoes up not out - so it works.

These are the covered beds I made - I'll show you how in my next post.

In these beds I planted the peppers -poor frosted peppers :(

In this bed the cabbage and broccoli are nestled. On the far right of the covered bed I have Golden shallots.

The bed in front of that has peas and onions.

More tomatoes.

More tomatoes!

The dearly departed peppers.

Really I am sad about this!

Broccoli and cabbage.

My Egg-celent Seed Planter

I planted some Lincoln shell peas. The seeds are from last year, so I put in some extra seeds. If they all sprout - Yay! If half sprout - Yay! Either way I will get some peas - Yay!

I covered the peas with some straw to hold in the moisture.
Moisture = good germination = more peas!
The straw was free! From the brush site. It's amazing what people will throw away.


This is my egg-celent seed planter. It's the egg holder that came with my refrigerator.
I put a few seeds in each opening, removed the seed spacer and lightly covered the seeds with soil. Hopefully, this way the seeds will be spaced and I won't have to thin the seedlings. I always promise to thin them, but then I forget about it until it's too late.

Garden Redo - Totally New!

I changed the garden!

Now, there are 12 beds in the veggie half with 3 foot paths between each bed.

I LOVE the 3 foot paths. It is so much easier to get a wheelbarrow in between the beds. Also, the layout is much easier to navigate.

Finally - FINALLY! I have the pond exactly the way I want it. No more moving- I promise.

This will be a little patio area, as soon as I can move the tulips.

I still have a lot to do. There are some interesting projects I have in mind.

Re-a-lly interesting.

If you speak Minnesotan, you know interesting has a different meaning here.

It is a polite way to say- gross, disgusting, never-do-that-again, but this time it means strange, unusual, weird.

Wa-ha! Stay tuned!

Garden Clean-up

I have been working on cleaning my garden up this week.

It was a long, hard winter and there was a lot to clean up.

First, I picked up all the junk, trash, ect.

Then, I fixed the pond.

Last Fall I took most of the rocks off of the liner and took out the stream. I ran out of time and it got too cold, so I finished it this week.

Finally, I have the pond exactly the way I want it!

After only moving it 10 times!

Then I placed 2 more raised beds in area I want to make into a small patio. I just have to wait until the tulips bloom, and I can move them, to get started on the patio.

Then I started moving all my raised beds. Again.

Yes, I am crazy.