Growth of July

  The west garden has evolved a bit since the last post.  About a week ago Kate picked the last of the peas and pulled the plants along the top.  The small trellis I made to contain them remains, however, as the cucumber plants have grown up, over and through it.  Also, she picked the radishes in the lower right corner.  This was the second try for radishes and like last time they failed to bulb up underground even as the tops were huge and going to seed.  Oh well, I don't really like radishes anyway.  More on this garden with the side view pic below.

  In the east garden the strawberrys are done for the season and the plants look like they have seen better days.  I'm not exactly sure, but I think we should pretty much leave it be until fall when we can cut down the plants and cover it with hay again.

Here I can point out more things with the side view.  Starting at left, the carrots (top left in this pic) are growing well.  Below that the lettuce is ready to eat.  We have already eaten some in salads and I'm sure we'll have more soon.  Next, the Jalepenos and sweet peppers are growing very well.  There are many small peppers started and even a few that need to be picked very soon.  Then there's the garlic.  It layed down last year too and it made me nervous enough that Kate finally picked it.  She assures me that the bulbs are still growing so I will believe her.  The huge tomato plants have been looking sickly lately, withering up in the heat of the past week, but hopefully with water and more reasonable temperatures they will bounce back.  In front of those are the two basil plants, a large leaf one and a small leaf one.  Then  there are the cucumbers, one up top to the right of the tomatoes that's hard to see in this pic, and the monster long one growing down the length of the garden.  It is a lot of stuff in a small area but we seem to be making it work! 

Monster Cucumber Plant

I took pictures two days ago but didn't post them so I went out this morning for an updated pic to post today.  The last post was 9 days ago and you can see the growth!  There are now small peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers starting to grow.  The cucumber next to the path has become a monster, growing up the small trellis into the peas and down the side of the garden.  I'm posting the garden side view below so it is easier to compare to the last post.  Pics from 2 days ago, including the strawberry bed, are after the break.

Full Garden Rundown

The west garden is so full of growing bounty that you can't see it all the way I usually photograph it.  So in the interest of our documentation of the garden I chose to shoot it in sections from the side, standing in between the beds.  Let's see how this works out...

Starting at the top of the garden, on the right here, the peas have become quite the tangled plants.  They just keep growing and need a bigger trellis to climb.  We may add about a 4-5 foot trellis up the garage side next year, see if that helps.  Next to the tiny trellis I put in earlier, the cucumber plants that Kate started from seed inside have started to take off.  This is one of our biggest space concerns.

Moving left, further down the garden we have a rough row of cherry tomatoes at the top, regular tomatoes in the middle, and a small basil plant that we may have to move or put in a pot due to the encroaching cucumbers.  To the left of that is another rough row of sage, a tiny but healthy thyme plant and a larger leaf basil than the smaller one next to it.  Further down are 2 rows of garlic (still not enough :)).

Just this side of the good looking garlic are hot and sweet pepper plants, the one lower in the pic, the sweet, was laying a bit the other day so is now staked.  Then at the bottom of the garden, in thirds, are carrots up top, then lettuce and finally the radishes.  The squirrels dug up part of a row where you see the bare spot.  We might move the basil there later, we'll see.

And finally, the calendar has turned to July and the June-bearing strawberry plants must have known as they have finished giving up their delightful berries.  In all, we got around 7 quarts of berries this Spring.  It doesn't seem like a lot, certainly not too much, but it's kind of sad that they're done now until next Spring.

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New Gate For The Gardens

Yesterday I added a front rail and gate to the gardens.  I'm actually pretty proud of how it turned out.  It looks nicer, I think, and the easier access to the path in between the gardens is just soooo convenient!  Check out my regular blog post here for lots more pics and commentary!

Things Getting Big and Picking Strawberries

Just a quick post to show the growth of all the plants.  No rundown of every single one this time, but I will point out the sprouting lettuce and radishes at the bottom, and the peas have gotten big!  We've never grown peas before, now we know.  Still, they won't last all Summer so we may pull them once they are done producing to make more room for the cucumber plants.

The strawberries have been producing for over a week now.  We have to pick them daily.  We are getting a fairly good yield, but many are small.  I wrote a little more about the strawberries over at my regular blog today, you can read that here.

More Planting, Space Worries

After yesterday's post, my wife chastised me for forgetting to mention the basil, planted in an east-west row along with the tomato plants (it's the one by the trowel).  Today she planted another basil, seen by her left hand, in the row with the sage and thyme thereby filling, or over-filling, all the space in the top of the garden.  We'll see how big things get, the cucumbers have me a bit worried if they happen to actually grow well.  Ah well, nothing ventured - nothing gained, right?

The lower part of the garden is divided into thirds under the pepper plants.  The left third still has the carrots, the middle third is now 3 short rows of leaf lettuce, and the right third is another round of  3 short rows of radishes.  Hopefully we won't get pummelled with rain anytime soon so the rows stay where planted.  As you can see, the carrots look pretty random and low, but I'm sure we'll get something from them.

Also this morning, we picked our first 10 (or so) ripe strawberries - they tasted great!  Just a sign of things to come!

June-Bearing Strawberries

The peas are getting very large at the top of the garden, with first pea pods starting to grow.  Just this side of the small trellis several of the cucumber plants seem to be doing very well.  I don't know if they will have much room if they all do well, but I guess we'll take that chance.  We put the tomato cages on the plants while we still can.  They have gotten stronger since we planted them and are starting to grow nicely.  Below that, the sage is growing well and the thyme is still small but growing well.  It is hidden by the 2 rows of garlic.  Then there are the hot and sweet pepper plants.  Kate pulled the radishes, they weren't developing well since the seeds got washed too close together.  The same happened to the carrots in the lower left but she has tried to thin them as they grow to give them a chance.  We still have space to plant more things yet.  Stay tuned, I guess.

A few days ago I notice the first berries starting to turn red so it was time to cover them with netting.  Since then, it seems a squirrel got in and tried one or two so now we think we have it secured enough to discourage future poaching.  But hey, if they're that determined there's not a lot we can do.  Check out the close up pic below!

More Plants Added

It was expected to be rainy or stormy early afternoon today, that didn't happen so we were able to tend to the yard and garden when we got home from work. While I mowed, Kate added several plants in the west garden. Along the top sun/shade line are cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes and basil. And below the garlic are a hot pepper and a sweet pepper plant. Everything else is progressing nicely. The cucumber plants, that were started from seed inside, are stil pretty small, but it is still early. Everything is a little later than last year due to the weather and cool Spring we've had.

In the strawberry bed most of the flowers have turned into small, green, going-to-be berries.  We've never done this before, but I'm hoping all the wet weather we've had and now more of the warm sunny weather expected is good for their growth. 

Gardens Are Shaping Up Nicely

It's almost the end of May, there has been progress and growth but even now the planting is not done.  At the top, two rows of peas grow between the back fence and a small trellis made out of leftover fence.  Just this side of that trellis several small cucumber plants - started from seed - form a row.  In the middle are two rows of garlic with sage and thyme right behind.  Then there is a blank area kind of shaped like 'T', with radishes in the lower right and carrots in the lower left.  Unfortunately the carrot seeds seem to have washed down to the lower end, but they are growing well anyway.  We still have tomato and pepper plants to put in.  Very soon I would say, after threats of frost yet.

The strawberry bed is lush with very big plants, some still flowering and others even starting to grow berries!  These are June-bearing plants so we look to have a bumper crop but we won't be picking them all summer long.  As long as we can keep the critters away no berry shall go to waste!

Mid-May Growth

In the mid morning shadows, the west garden is coming to life despite more yet to be planted.  The peas are getting big at the top, I'll be building a small trellis for the vines to attach to soon.  Below that is open space above two leftover herb plants, sage and thyme I think, my wife will correct me later.  Then there are two rows of garlic, some more open space that will be planted later, with radishes in the lower right and carrots just starting to come up in the lower left.

The east strawberry bed is almost in full swing.  There are several blossoms starting, and Kate said she saw a tiny berry starting already!  When they start ripening we will have to stay on top of picking them so we don't lose it all to the birds and squirrels.  I have a netting that hopefully will dissuade vermin poachers.