Mid-June Update
Time for an update of what is happening in the garden.
Every day I go out and look around to see how much change there is and wonder why it seems to be slow to grow.
I guess it is sort of like a cook wondering if the pot is going to finally boil!
So - here are some pictures to show what has been accomplished so far this season.
Our first pink oriental poppies that we have had for many years. Delicate as tissue paper, beautiful but the blooms too quickly fade and drop.
We found another pink oriental poppy that, as you can see, is a much brighter pink but otherwise same variety.
A close-up lets you see why we like this one!
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The flowers at the front of the house are doing nicely
but the lavender (bottom of picture) is trying to take over!
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The pictures below of the greenhouse will give an idea of what a difference there is between June 1st and 14th. The carrots are growing fast but not nearly as fast as the bush beans. I had to check the package of seeds to make sure I had picked the right ones and yes, on the package it says "grows to 24" tall" - but they have gone right up to the roof. The ones in the outside bed are also over 5' tall!
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Overall picture of the "back garden"
The new raised bed is showing promise.
Far end - corn...I hope it doesn't attract the raccoons!
In the middle are two Blueberry bushes. Two varieties so the crop is spread out over a longer period of time, one is supposed to have large berries and the other BIG berries - as big as cherries we were told. Time will tell. In the center of the front half of the bed are a couple of volunteer potato plants (thanks to the compost under the topsoil)... and at the front are a half dozen sunflowers (as requested by somebody named Ashley)... and sprinkled around the bed are Cosmos flowers that are doing nicely. One of my favourites.
(or favorites if you are in the U.S. of A.)
As per the tag in the picture - this is the main raised bed June 1st.
Below is the same bed today - June 14th.
The scarlet runner beans are 3 or 4 feet up the poles, the peas, well, I had to add on to the posts and put twine across for the "bush peas" to climb up on. Now about 6 foot tall! Not bad for 24" bush peas. The tomato plants have kind of gone wild between the peas and the greenhouse but I thought I would let them go to see how many smaller tomatoes they would produce compared to the ones inside that I keep pruned (remove the shoots that come where the leaves join the main trunk)... And - somewhere between the two tomato plants is a lonely squash plant. This year it is "butternut" instead of the usual "sweetmeat". Going to be interesting to see how it compares in flavour(flavor) (U.S. version - LOL)
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The inside of the greenhouse got too hot again this year. (That was when we were having sunshine instead of clouds, wind & showers like now) So - the shade cloth went back up on the roof.
Last year our strawberries went wild and the whole bed was choked with plants. I cleaned out a lot this spring, now some have died or are in the process of doing so, and the crop is really meager.
It looks like the raspberries are going to produce a bumper crop that will make up for it!
We missed having blackberries after being spoiled with bumper crops of them at our previous home so we bought a plant and will be training the vines along the back fence. However, this time we went with a THORNLESS blackberry. Variety name "Marionberry"
Will try to give progress reports every now and then...
GG
