Month: July 2017

Zinnias and Garlic!

Jen PowellLeave a comment

I harvested some wonderful garlic tonight.  Here are some pics of the harvest, and of the plethora of flowers in my garden.

garlic
Here is the garlic – it’s a little dirty still but it looks wonderful. I harvested 24 really nice bulbs.
garlic 2
This is the second time I’ve grown garlic – last time I just bought organic garlic at the grocery store. This time I ordered actual garlic bulbs. It made a big difference.
calendula
Some Calendula and nasturtiums. The flowers I planted in the garden really look nice this year.
melons
I’ve de-purslaned the melon area – there is still some growing in between the tomatoes, and I’m sure I haven’t seen the last of it here, but it looks a lot better.
sunflower top
Here is a sunflower head. This was just under my head level, so I’m sure it will get a lot taller before this flower finishes forming.
herbs and stuff
Some herbs and cauliflower.
marigold
Marigolds! I love these, but I’m really starting to enjoy my zinnias…
zinnias
More zinnias. I planted a big mix and they are really delivering this year. They are all different.
zinnia
Here is a close up of one.
zinnia 3
Another zinnia.
zinnia 2
A really nice yellow one.
flowrs and greens
Here is a nice shot of some of the greens and flowers on one side of the garden. I’m really happy with the flowers this year.
greens and flowers
Another shot showing more flowers.

My Garden is growing quickly!

Jen Powell1 Comment

I’ve noticed a lot of explosive growth of many things in the garden this last week. My tomatoes seem to have doubled in size – I have tomato cages around them but I need to tie up some of the branches.  I have a bunch of cool flowers starting to bloom. I planted a mix of different kinds of zinnias all over, and some calendula and cosmos – they are starting to bloom.  I love the different colors mixed in with the huge amount of lush green in the garden.  My carrots and beets are sprouting now.  And my weeds are getting large – this week my chores will include getting rid of a lot of them in the spaces I haven’t weeded yet. I have a ton of purslane still, even after picking some and making pickles.  I bough some ranch dressing and some cucumbers and tomatoes (since my plants aren’t producing yet) and am planning on some purslane salads this week.  It’s actually pretty good – we had it on tacos instead of lettuce the other day, and that was quite delicious.  Some updated pictures of my growing garden are below.  Enjoy!

escaping nasturtium
Right next to the entrance to my garden I planted a nasturtium. It is now escaping the fence. It’s about 2-3 feet away from the fence.
nasturtium flowers
This one has bright red/orange flowers.
nasturtium on the run
Here is the same plant. It has tendrils going out in all directions – here it is crossing the pathway.
zinnia
Here is one of the zinnias I planted. There are some reds and mixed colors too. I’m excited to see them all.
pumpkin plant
Here is one of my pumpkin plants – it too is escaping and climbing the fence. I planted it near the fence for that reason – it can climb the fence and save me space in the garden a little.
cosmo
Here is one of the cosmos I planted. I haven’t grown these in years.
calendula
A calendula.
cantaloupe
Here (in the middle of the bag, with some yellow flowers) is one of my cantaloupe plants. They seem to be doing better than my watermelon. They are surrounded by our new vegetable/weed purslane. There is another nasturium behind it.
mass of tomatos
My mess of tomato plants. I have both determinate and indeterminate varieties – the indeterminate are already branching a bunch, so I need to get in there and start tying stuff up.
tomatoes and greens
The greens area. Chard, spinach and kale. These are all getting large now too.
back of the garden
A view of the back of the garden. The sunflowers are getting bigger. I have a bunch along the back (north side) of the garden.
garden getting big
A view down the middle pathway. I like to take pictures from here to see the change through the summer.

 

 

The garden in Mid July

Jen PowellLeave a comment

We had a very rainy June – most of the things I had direct sowed into the garden must have drowned. They did not sprout. So I had to replant a lot of seeds – beans, carrots, beets. Since the beginning of July we’ve dried up a little bit – we are getting more sun than rain anyway, so that is helping. The garden is finally taking off.  Here are some pictures:

nasturtium
Here is a nasturtium – it’s been flowering already and is starting to try to climb the fence.
peas
Here are my pea seedlings. I hadn’t planted peas originally, but my 4 rows of beans didn’t sprout in June, so when I replanted I put in some peas as well.
beans
Here are the new bean seedlings. I had originally planted yellow, green and purple. I ran out of purple at the original seeding, so these are just green and yellow. They’ll do.
beets and carrot
Here are the two beets and one carrot that managed to sprout out of all the rows I put in in June. I replanted seeds today. At least these three plants helped me figure out where some of the rows should be. Now I’ll have to thin everything when it sprouts.
garden long view
Here is the long view down the center of the garden. I have various flowers along the path – zinnias, calendula, and a marigold or two.
artichoke
My artichoke! I only had one come back this year, and it already has an artichoke. I haven’t decided if I’ll pick it – it’s not very big. Artichokes grow here but I haven’t had luck with them being very large. I only had one plant make it through the winter this year. (I had 3 last year).
lemon balm
My giant lemon balm plant. I actually split it, so this is half of the original plant. The other half is in my front yard. This half is about 2.5-3 feet wide. I keep finding babies in the garden where I had moved it from. I absolutely love it. It smells so good and makes really good tea.
tomato weeds
I have tomato “weeds” sprouting all over – they must have reseeded from last year – I don’t know what variety they’ll be. I did pick out some but there were a lot. I’m guessing they’ll be cherry – those were hard to get to (in the corn/sunflower jungle) and I lost a lot of them into the garden last year. So they are the most likely candidate.
purslane patch
My melon-turned-purslane patch. I have cantaloupes and watermelons in the middle of the bags, and then purslane have exploded between the bags. I found a recipe for purslane pickles, so I’m going to eat them. This is the part of the garden I reclaimed from the yard, so that is my guess as to why I have so much purslane. I have not had an issue with it in this garden before. Luckily it’s edible and tasty.
sunflower
I have a re-seeded sunflower (or two) growing in my onion patch. I have sunflowers all over the place! Very exciting! To the left you can see my potato bags. They are doing pretty well.
ducks
Here are the ducks. We recently sold three of them, so we only have three left. We were overrun with duck eggs. We are planning on cutting down on our chicken flock as well, to help with food costs through the winter.
backyard
Here are the chickens. We’ve let them run around the back yard a lot this year. Their run is still really muddy in spots from the rain, and they have been keeping the grass down but not completely killing the lawn, so it’s been ok. They enjoy foraging a lot.