Late July Vegetable Garden

Everything is filling in and getting bushy.

We're harvesting beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

...And the occasional beets, carrots, and onions.

Love it!

 

Bottom terrace:

(kids' gardens will be in a separate post)

 

Oregano, beans, beets, carrots, potatoes

 

Middle Terrace:

 

cucumbers & zucchini

 

cosmo jungle

You can just barely see the big, fat onions peeking out in front there.

They don't seem to mind the takeover.

 

Pumpkin flowering amidst the jungle.

 

Mini pumpkins and beans

The peas were still limping along, but I pulled them out.

The pumpkins needed some space to run into that wasn't covered up with cosmos, anyway.

 

 

 Beans in front, new beans coming up on the left, pumpkin vines behind.

And of course, those glorious marigolds up top.

They are so bright and cheerful!

 

Top Terrace:

Basil is going to seed, with marigolds right in front looking amazing.

The tomatoes aren't very tall, but are producing several small fruits consistently.

Another view of marigolds and basil.

The cosmo jungle, from the top.

So beautiful!

Early July Vegetable Garden

 

Pardon the blurry look to these photos.

My camera has been acting up.

 

Oregano starting to recover from the haircut I gave it.

Zinnias starting to peek up from behind.

Spinach and swiss chard gone.

They were only about 3 inches tall and already bolting.

I have planted beans in their places.

Sweet potato is going for broke. I'm so curious what we're going to find when we dig it up.

Potatoes are still full and bushy.

 

Up to the middle terrace: 

Peas are struggling. It got hot so quickly this year that they just haven't been growing.

I'll give them another week or two, then I'm yanking them out.

No harvest yet.

 

Mini pumpkins starting to fill out.

Beans growing.

 

Jack-o-lantern pumpkins starting to run!

Once I pull out the peas, I'm going to let them run over to that end of the bed.

And all that feathery goodness?

Volunteer cosmos from my little cutting garden patch last year.

I pulled out the ones most crowding my other stuff.

The rest I'm just going to let make a jungle, I guess.

A flowery jungle...hmmm...sounds perfect!

 

Get a load of these onions!

For once in my life I'm growing big onions!

I take back all the onion grumbling from the past.

The only thing different this year is that I spaced them out 4-6 inches.

That's it. And just look at them!

Now I'm ready to grow onions every year, forever and ever.

 

This is at the end of the terrace, looking back toward the onions and cosmo jungle.

Zucchini is actually growing and flowering.

Good sign.

And those are cucumbers climbing that trellis (with quite a bit of encouragement.)

Tons of flowers and even a few small cukes coming. Yeah!

 

Top terrace:

Marigold, basil, and tomatoes.

Starting to fill in.

 

 

Plus, the pole beans are starting to climb!



The Flower Tour

 Starting right off by the front steps: suprise! dianthus

 Lavender growing big and bushy

 A few roses, plus wild clover [plus weeds]

 A huge patch of clover, down in front by the driveway and brush pile.

 Back flowerbed.

I just can't get over how bright and sunny these little bloomers are.

I will definitely start some again next year.

Back slope update:  

 I've started watering the apple tree since we got home from vacation, and these little violas have perked up and started blooming again, although you can see from all the brown foliage they were about done for.

 I think this was another type of dianthus that I purchased at the WSU horticultural sale.

I planted these on the slope, in front of the salvias.

 One cosmo plant hanging on.

 These poor hydrangeas did not get watered while we were gone.

But they may revive yet--see the new growth at the tips?

I still need to remove dead leaves from this one, as you can see.

 The other hydrangea. Stems look healthy, if it can put out enough new leaves it may survive.

Speaking of survival....

This oakleaf hydrangea isn't going to make it after all.

None of the new leaves ever opened up fully.

I'm leaving it in right now as a weed deterrent until end of next month, when I will replace it with something else. Darn! I was hoping this would do well here.

Flower Pot Prettiness

50% off sale = back slope color

 So you can see a few tiny dashes of burgundy, along with the wild daisies.

Shopko had all of its plants on 50% off, so I went and got some things to plant on the back slope.

Also, we got really tired of tall grass around this bottom part, so Jason weed-whacked it, except for the daisies. It was so much easier to plant these without waist-high grass in the way!

And you'll actually be able to see them!

 Salvias 'Rose Queen'

As you can see, a pretty pink color.

 Asiatic daylillies in burgundy [plus wild daisies, and cosmos]

2 'Peppermint Stick' Hydrangeas--you can see one in the background, above, and the other in the picture below.  I'm not sure I'm going to love the stripey flowers, but they were the healthiest looking hydrangeas there. So maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised next summer.

I also planted one Russian Sage plant in the same general area, and the dianthus I bought from the horticultural sale in May.

Plus, one random shot of the borage, about to bloom.

Flower Pots

My pots are a little different this year, partly because I needed to use what I had grown from seed, but also just to mix it up a little and see what happens.

On the left: wave petunias, around the edge, with a basil plant in the middle.

Right: yellow marigolds in center, 4-5 cosmos on the edge, plus 3 wave petunias.

The pot with the cosmos looks a little strange right now. They are much taller than the marigolds. I'm hoping that the marigolds will grow bigger and it will balance out in the end, but we'll see! The cosmos were so floppy, I didn't feel like they could be in the middle. I may yet add some small-flowered filler plants.

On a happier note...

 These flats are about ready to be planted out, I think!

I covered them up again most of yesterday and last night, since it was supposed to get down to 34, but I plan to leave them uncovered at nights now.

Look at the lovely little marigold bloom!

 These cosmos are so floppy, I don't know what to do with them.

But the one is blooming, there on the left, along with 2 more marigolds.

I'm planning to get my flower pots planted this week, and I may add a few of these.

I don't know about putting cosmos in a flower pot, but I think I may just try it.

 These lovely tulips are finally showing their color--surprise! A little bit of yellow mixed in with the pink/blush color.

 This little patch seems to get prettier each day.

There are sure some gorgeous tulips all around town right now. They obviously do very well here. I'll have to remember that when I purchase bulbs this fall.

In Missouri I could only get one good year out of them, then they were done. Wonder if it's our cooler weather here that they do better in.

Finally, take a look at these dandelions!

I almost hate to admit it, but they are pretty!

 These are all growing on the back slope, so I'm just going to let them grow.

It'll be a good flower for the kids to pick if they feel the urge.

Such sunny color--perks up the plain green back there, anyway.

Potting Up & Hardening Off

Or, what to do when you don't have a cold-frame built yet!

 My friend Colette gave me this brilliant idea.

So to harden these seedling off (i.e., get them ready for life outdoors full-time), I have them out on the back slope under these clear bins. In the afternoon, I either prop up the bin a bit, or take it off completely, if it's warm enough. Then cover them back up at night to keep them warm and keep the frost off.

So far so good.

Today the bins didn't come off at all, mostly because we were busy with other stuff--church, mother's day--all day. But tomorrow is supposed to be in the 60's (yes!) so I'm planning to give them some sun in the afternoon.

So here's what's out there:

 2 pumpkin plants, borage, several marigolds and cosmos, and a few basil.

Oh yeah, and some hollyhocks.

I took about 2.5 hours Saturday night and got the rest of the seedlings potted up that were still in the very small starting trays. Violas, petunias, more marigolds and cosmos, a few more basil and hollyhocks, and some delphiniums.

They all needed it pretty desperately, but I had been waiting, because I just didn't have any more window-sill space. Then I talked to Colette about starting to harden some off outside.  So that freed up my window-sill space.  Basically, I put all the bigger stuff outside, and kept the little ones in.

I figure in a couple of weeks, all these will be ready to be planted outside, and I can start hardening off the ones that are in my windowsill now.

p.s. I have no idea what to do with those beans! They are all flowering in the basement windowsill, even though it's about 15 degrees colder than the main level, and I only water them about once a week!

Go beans! I just...am not sure what to do with them. They are so tall that I think this bin method of hardening them off would smash them down too much.  I'll have to talk to Colette again and see if she has any ideas! I give her a hard time about being my personal extension agent! :)

The Ways of Seedlings

I haven't planted very many things from seed. So I have been fascinated to see how these different plants grow. You saw the beans last post. Here's the other half of that seedling tray:

 L-R: violas, Marigold Mars, and Marigold Bonanza mix

The violas, from such a tiny seed, start out with those 2 round seed leaves, then begin adding more leaves from the juncture of the leaves, one at a time, the same round type.

As you can see, the marigold 'Mars' is a dud. I haven't had a single one germinate! I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, or if I ought to call the seed company and have them send me out another package.

The other marigolds, though, are going strong in all the trays. They start with the long slender seed leaves on a short stem. Then first put out the two larger toothed leaves you see there. It's kind of hard to tell, but after those first two, the leaves grow in groups of 4, with 2 pairs, each coming below the bigger main leaf.

This tray, L-R: hollyhocks, violas, cosmos, basil

So the hollyhocks' seed leaves are big and round in shape, then their new leaves come one at a time, also round, growing from the juncture of the seed leaves.

Cosmos resemble marigolds at first, with the 2 long, slender seed leaves, but their stems are all about 4 inches tall. Then the true leaves, as you can see, are very finely cut, coming out in pairs close to the seed leaves.

The basil has been very interesting to watch, too. The seed leaves are those larger, spade-shaped leaves. They originally were so close together they looked like one leaf, with two little eyes in the middle. Now they are growing apart and the true leaves are appearing, so far in pairs, right from the middle.

By the time the trays are at this point, you don't need to check your paper anymore for what's what. It's very obvious by their growth.  I have really enjoyed this learning process so far!