How's My Garden Growing July 6, 2019

How's My Garden Growing? 

July 6, 2019

*Time to start thinking of blanching and freezing greens.*

Bed One: 

The herbs are doing well.  I finally got to eat a strawberry!  

Bed Two:  

The green beans came over the metal poles this week!  I'm so looking forward to eating lots and lots of those!!  The new asparagus plants haven't come up yet, that I planted in the spring.  Perhaps they won't.  The basil is finally looking ready to pick from! Yay!  I planted a few Zinnia's in the front left corner to add some color soon.  The volunteer potato and squash plants are really taking over the area...I hope those are a good kind of squash that I like!  I saw some blooms below.

Bed Two:

The parsley plants have brought in a welcomed visitor---this little beauty will be a Black Swallowtail butterfly!  I'm happy to see it!

Bed Three:

Most importantly, the green beans are growing up fine and looking hopeful.  I've been eating the volunteer lettuce from this bed this week.  As you can see, this year I've been letting things go to seed so I can hopefully harvest seeds for next year's garden, but it makes the garden look a bit messier than usual.

Bed Four: 

Everything is doing okay in this bed-- carrots, peppers, tomatoes, green beans, flowers...  they just haven't matured very fast.

Bed Four: 

The potted plants are doing okay.  I love basil and have planted it in numerous beds, even if just in a little corner, and in some pots too.  I just want to make sure I have plenty to make my Basil Butter again this year and a few plants to bring inside in the fall for my winter use.

Bed Five: 

Swiss Chard, volunteer potato bed doing fine.

Bed Six:

Kale's (two different varieties) doing really well.  It was last year, this week, that I started blanching and freezing my kale leaves.  After such a great growing week I think it is time to start doing again.  I sure did enjoy eating all that kale and swiss chard over the cold months.

Bed Seven:

Spinach is going to seed and I hope I will have seed for next year!  The turnip greens and Swiss Chard are being eaten by me and the chickens.  I share the turnip greens with the hens a lot, it makes them happy!  The green beans are doing well.  The seeds from my third planting are coming up very well and have filled out the empty spots were the first seeds had failed.  I'm hoping for a big green bean harvest!

Bed Eight:

Lettuces, kales, swiss chard, and basil all doing well.  I've been eating on the lettuces a lot this week.  

Blackberries:

SO, remember in the fall how I dug up all the blackberry bushes and took them to an area on our back driveway, an area that I spent over a week clearing from weeks and thorny plants to start a new area just for the blackberry plants?  Well, it seems I didn't do a good job getting all the blackberry roots!  I can't tell you how many plants I've come across throughout the yard and around the garden.  I'll have to wait for the fall to dig up and move all these new plants. 

I have no idea what this plant is, but it volunteers in my wet garden each year and it really is so pretty.  I hope to move it to a more appreciated location in the fall too.

Wet Bed:

I had a lot of volunteer Tomatillo plants volunteer in the island bed this year and I decided to move them over to this bed so they wouldn't interfere with my green beans.  I had transferred a bunch of Marigold plants from the island bed and they adapted well, but something is always eating them in this bed---I see slugs but it has to be more than just slugs eating the branches?  This bed is doing okay, it never does really well because of the lack of sun.

Wet bed:

The Milkweed I planted in here two years ago is doing really well!  I'm so glad!  Plus, it seems like whatever eats the plants in this bed are leaving this plant alone!  I've moved some of the coneflowers and black-eyed Susan's out to make room for the milkweed to spread.

Island Bed: Front side

Most importantly, the green beans are doing well!  But, wow, the Kabocha squash seem to be very happy!  I've never grown this variety of squash before, but so far it is doing okay.  The tomato plants are doing okay, but I wish they were growing faster as I still don't have a fruit.

Island Bed: Back Side

The flowers I planted are doing fine.  I *wish* I could have transplanted more out faster.  I transplanted a lot of Zinnia's this week and the ones in the sun died quickly, but the ones in the shade all seem to be doing okay.  I can't wait to see how the flowers grow and bloom--I've not grown a few of these and am curious.

The sunflower and marigolds I planted in the dirt between the driveway and the garden are all doing well.  I don't think any of the transplants died! Yay!

The grapevines are all doing really well--about ready for more posts as they are branching out beyond the posts.  I somehow missed taking a picture of the potato beds and the corn bed?  I'll have to update that later.

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