My Edible Garden

I've been gardening for most of my life and have been a devoted fan of organic gardening the whole time. It just makes so much more sense to work in harmony with Mother Nature than to fight her. Besides which it is better for the planet and better for our bodies. Here you can see what I'm planting and harvesting, with gardening hints and resources thrown in for good measure.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Around the Garden

the back garden
The back garden is becoming quite a jungle. In the front is the Red Burgundy Amaranth, with chard and bolting lettuce. Behind that is the corn and bolting carrots along with random volunteer hollyhocks.


 On the other side of the corn patch is this hollyhock. For whatever reason my camera, which usually takes great pics, cannot seem to get the true color of this flower. I've adjusted it some here, but it is really more a purple color than this shows.

corn silks

This patch of corn is doing well as you can see above. The ears and silks are showing on some of the plants now, so fresh sweet corn is not too far away. This is Golden Bantam Improved, from the Seed Savers Exchange.



bush bean seedlings


The bush beans are sprouting right up in the heat. Here on the upper right you can see some parsnip flowers bending over to get in the pic and on the lower left the stems from a new planting of red amaranth with is in the corner of the bean bed.


squash plants on greenhouse



Here you can see the buttercup and tromboncinno squash plants running on the greenhouse frame.







squash plants from inside the greenhouse


Here are the plants from inside the greenhouse.











melon

Also growing in the greenhouse beds are some cantaloupe, and look at this beauty, can't wait for it to get ripe.









Eggplant #2

Out on the patio eggplant #2 is growing. This is a white one.










Baby Blue Hubbard

Here's that compost pile out front with the Baby Blue Hubbard squash. Three of the four plants are doing fine after I sprayed them with liquid iron a few weeks ago, but the fourth one is even more yellow now. It's way too hot to do any foiliar feeding now, so I poured the rest of the liquid iron from the sprayer directly around the plant. Since you spray a more dilute mixture than you pour on the soil I don't think this will burn it but it should help it out a little. If we get a couple of cloudy days where the temps are down a bit I could spray, but it's way to hot right now.

carrots and potatoes

This is a small bed where I've been pulling the rainbow carrots from. It's also a lesson in checking the records before planting. Apparently in Jan. I planted some sprouting russet potatoes in this bed and then a couple of months later I planted the carrots. Got a big surprise when the potatoes came up. But those potatoes are done and need dug, so I will not be able to wait for all of the carrots to size up; I need to get them out of the way so I can get the potatoes out of there.  (If I leave them too long they will resprout and the crop will be spoiled).

corn & more

In early May I planted this small bed of corn. At the same time I planted some lettuce seed all over and put on a thin row cover. The row cover as well as the partly shady location really helped keep the soil moist and I've been able to pick a good bit of lettuce from it. Later I also planted some squash plants down the middle. The squash are beginning to spread out and the lettuce is almost down. The yellow flowers are a wild sunflower that I think must have come in some wild flower mixture. The seeds are tiny and the little finches really like them, but they put off a lot of pollen and make me sneeze so they will be coming out.








corn, beans, lettuce
This bed has a bit of corn at one end, a teepee of Kentucky Wonder pole beans, a couple of Aunt Molly's ground cherries, some kabocha squash and under the window screen in the middle of the teepee is a little bit of lettuce.







The rabbit pen


Back in April I planted this bed inside my rabbit compound, with a little fig tree, comfrey and kobocha squash. A month ago the squash plants barely had a few leaves on them (seen here), now look at them!







The rabbit pen from the inside

Here's a shot from the other side of the fence. The lemon mint, also called bee balm is blooming. I don't know why they call it lemon mint; to me it smells more like oregano. The little fig tree is growing a few figs, but they aren't very big yet.




The patio




Along the patio the weed trees are making a comeback, so I''ve been trying to whack a few when I get the chance. The tomatoes are doing well and the tromboncinno squash are running and blooming.

Tromboncinno in the old washer liner











tromboncinno in a tub




6 comments:

  1. very nice garden! can't wait to see your review of that melon - never tried growing them so this is first year for me and they're still small plants. Love that squash running up the roof of the house.

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  2. Thanks Jenny! This is a Hale's Best Jumbo and they are really good when they are really ripe. Now if I can just keep the squirrels out of it we'll be fine!

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  3. Wow Mary what a super nice garden. Thanks so much for the tour. Your garden seems to be at least a month a head of mine. I don't even have blossoms on my melons yet. I love your garden!!

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    1. Thank you, but you are probably much much cooler than I am!

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  4. Hi Mary, What wonderful gardens you have! Do you ever have to go to the grocery store? Is Bee Balm also called Monarda? I had never heard it called lemon balm before. Mine is blooming now but doesn't look like yours or at least I think it is Bee Balm! Will post a picture of it on my blog tomorrow. Nancy

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    1. Thank you Nancy, I still go to the store, but most of my purchases are down to dairy products, meat and pickled olives most weeks.

      Yes, this one is Monarda citriodora, I bought the seeds from the Seed Savers Exchange; http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=810

      I have a plant with leaves that smell about the same (like oregano to me) but look slightly different with a very different shaped flower, which was labeled Bee Balm at the nursery, I think that one is another species of Monarda.

      And neither of these to be confused with Lemon Balm which is related to mint and has a very strong lemon scent to it.

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