Last of the cutting garden

The cutting garden was definitely a mixed success this year.

The sunflowers were great, but rather too big for my arrangements, the bachelor's buttons were pretty but very floppy, and most of the rest either didn't come up at all or smelled like poop (daisies, I'm looking at you!)

 

But let's remember some successes.

The volunteer cosmo patch up in the vegetable garden was gorgeous, and brightened up a few bouquets.

 

Bunny tail grass, or Lagarus ovatus, planted in my daughter's garden, was a favorite of us all.

Those little seedheads were every bit as soft and fuzzy as they look.

With their long arching stems, they added a bit of whimsy and touchability to several bouquets this summer.

Since I generally rototill the garden every year, this clump got dug up, divided, and replanted in 3 different spots out in the front flowerbeds. I hope it thrives up there!

 

Bless the zinnias.

They came through splendidly, wherever I planted them.

These were in the cutting garden proper, but the ones in the garden did great, as well.

Hardy, long-lasting in the vase, and bright cheerful colors.

That's a combination that's hard to beat!

Beautifully floppy bachelor's buttons.

If I replant these next year, they'll have to go in a spot that get a little more sun.

Maybe the vegetable garden.

[What? I do have actual vegetables in there, too, you know...mostly.]

Looking down toward the cutting garden.

The daisies have since been divided and planted between the lilacs and ninebark, all the way down the terrace.

 

As for next year's cutting garden, I may try starting some seeds inside in the spring, so that I have more young plants to put in. Also, not sure I'll do sunflowers again, though they were fun to look at. That is, unless I can find a variety with smaller blooms that I actually know what to do with in a vase.

 

It was a good experiment that I feel like I learned from.

(Like everything I do in gardening.)

The Cutting Garden

After perusing some flower farmer blogs and visiting our local u-pick flower farm again, I decided to make a dedicated cutting garden on the end of our side terrace.

 

In May I pulled out all my flower seeds--varying ages, most at least 1 year old.

I weeded like crazy, (it had already been rototilled earlier), then planted my little seeds.

I waited, tried to remember to water, and waited.

 

And....not much came up.

These are the first pictures, because most of the summer has seen only very small struggling plants surrounded by (yes) more weeds.

 

So, to begin:

These daisies were a gift from a friend, and after taking a month or two to recover from transplanting, they're actually blooming again!

 

Funny story about them:

I was making a bouquet to give to a friend, and came over for some daisies.

As I was snipping them, I thought, "Wow, you can really smell the compost in this bed!"

Then later, in the car, I really thought I had stepped in something.

I checked my shoes, I was looking for the source of THAT smell.

Oh yes. It wasn't the compost, my friends.

So, fortunately, I have some pretty white daisies.

UNfortunately, those daisies smell like poop.

Therefore, they will have to be moved elsewhere in my garden, because flowers in my cutting garden aren't allowed to stink that bad!

 

My current plan is possibly moving them down the terrace, between each of my new lilac bushes.

Ever-loving zinnias.

These are the best!

They're the 'Cut and Come Again' variety, and they have all sorts of fun and different forms in the same seed packet. As you can see, most were pink this year, but that's okay, too.

 

These bachelor buttons grew from 4 year-old seed!

They sure are pretty, but also are super floppy, which made them hard to use in arrangements.

They must not get enough sun right here.

 

Sunflower mix.

Tall, stately, and beautiful.

I'm still figuring out how to use them in a mixed bouquet.

 

So out of maybe 10 varieties of seeds planted this year, so far I have 3 things growing.

I've got some work to do!

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!



Vegetable Garden Update

 

Finished planting vegetables yesterday.

It's about a week ahead of when I usually do it, but we've had such a warm spring, I think it'll be fine.

I've got some new things I'm trying this year, and plenty of old favorites.

 

Overview

The right-side of the bottom terrace are my 2 oldest kids' garden.

They deserve a separate post, which is coming soon!

 

spring veggies (& oregano!)

So you can see my spring stuff is up but most of it is still very very small, with the exception of the potatoes.

 

 

Here are my 'Green Arrow' peas.

They must have gotten washed under the oregano a bit; I know I didn't plant them that close!

 

I didn't take a picture of the middle stuff--the swiss chard, carrots, beets, and spinach.

They're still so small I don't think they would show up very well on camera yet.

 



potato patch

 

These lovely beauties are doing grand.

They doubled in size with the rain yesterday.

 

This just came up within the last few days.

Can you guess what it is?

I had forgotten I had planted it.

I stared at it for at least 5 minutes trying to figure out what it could be.

The leaves are so different, but I know it's not a weed....

It's a sweet potato!

There was one from the grocery store that was practically growing leaves in the potato bin in the kitchen, so I plopped into the ground on a whim.

Here she comes!

I'm super excited about it, actually.

 

Middle terrace

 

sugar snap pole peas + pea sticks!

These are doing the best out of all the spring stuff so far!

Look at them go!

 

I just planted some bush beans along in front of them.

Next down on this terrace (not pictured because it's still just dirt right now), I put in 9 mini pumpkins around the legs of a tomato cage, "pumpkin on a stick," and one hill of jack-o-lantern pumpkins with plenty of space on either side to ramble.

I'll let you know how the tomato cage trellising works out.

Then come the onions, also not pictured, and I planted 'Cut and Come Again' zinnias between the onions and the little walkway.

Ok, here what's next:

 

Adam's garden in front, plus burpless cucumbers along the trellis, and one mound for zucchini in the back to finish off the terrace.

 Top Terrace

 

The berries will get their own update, so here's what we planted over the last couple of days:

 

View towards the neighbor's

 

pole beans 'Kentucky Wonder'

common thyme: Thymus vulgaris

Italian basil

marigolds

5 Cougar Red tomatoes

2 Sun Sugar tomatoes (both looking very sad and droopy at the moment) 

 

view towards the strawberries

 

I think I've got more types of staking and trellising this year than I've ever had!

The pole beans are a new one to try. I grew them once in Missouri, but haven't ever done them here.

The bamboo poles were 8 feet long, so probably about 7' now that that they're in the ground. I hope that's tall enough!

 

My plan for the herbs is to dry them and perhaps make our own Italian seasoning at the end of the summer. Our oregano is so prolific, we need to do something with it!

 



Renovations

Box 1, Round 2

As my husband so astutely observed, I'm more of a planter than a weeder. So after the peas, potatoes, and onions were gone, I spent a little of my flower money on these bright annuals to take up some space, and planted beets in the space that was left. Much better option than bare ground, which would then fill with weeds.

Notes of interest:

The zinnias have already attracted at least 2 different kinds of butterflies! They would be a good choice for filler in my big flower beds next spring.

The sunflowers are looking great because it has just rained twice in the last couple of days, but they were really drooping before that. Another reminder NOT to plant anything in July, unless you plan to pour water on it every day. I figured they would do okay in the vegetable box, because I water those at least 2x per week. Thank goodness for this rain!

Look how awesome the beans are doing! Also, I didn't get a close enough shot to be able to tell, but the carrots and the beets have just come up. We'll see how this goes--it is my first attempt at doing fall crops.