Garden Update: Late Spring
Really hot temperatures this week preceded by all of the rain of past weeks has our garden (and the weeds) going crazy. We’re still only harvesting lettuce and herbs right now, but I thought I’d give you a little update anyway.
The peas are finally beginning to flower. We planted more peas than ever this year so we will see how well the crop turns out.
Behind the front garden (pictured at the top) we planted four zucchini plants.
Four cucumber plants also made their way to the right of the front garden.
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We finally cleared out last year’s garlic beds and started transplanting tomatoes. We also put a few lettuce transplants throughout, hoping to take advantage of the shade provided by the larger tomato plants.
Back in the lower-lying raised bed area we finally got some mulch down to keep down at least some of the weeds. Above is the left side of this area which includes peas, lettuce, green beans, and a few strawberry plants.
Speaking of strawberries… they are starting to plump up and are close to ripening. We put some black netting over them this year to see if we can get to them before the birds and bugs do.
This is the right side of the back garden which holds more peas, green beans, and lettuce. In the back right is our little carrot patch and in the forefront is our monstrous comfrey plant.
As you can tell we have not weeded or mulched this area recently. There are beets back there, doing fairly well actually, but it’s not pretty. To the left of the photo is another bed with some lettuce and herbs and somewhere in that jungle a few potato plants are fighting with the weeds.
That’s our garden update for late spring. What’s going on in your garden?
On my balcony, I’ve been regularly harvesting swiss chard and mint. Recently planted mini-pumpkins (that have sprouted), collards, lemon balm, green leaf lettuce and cayenne peppers. I have total garden envy of what you got going on.
Am following your blog 🙂 And I am also envious of all of your herbs.. we didn’t put out much room for herbs but do have basil sprouted and in use. There is more on the way. Our corn tasseled this morning and we are wondering if that is a good thing or way too early! I love seeing how open your garden is. We had to fence ours and thus have overstuffed ours so much one must be careful where they step, and also where and how the weeding is done!
I love veggie garden pictures. They are so inspiring. I have a fence around mine too. Its nothing special (I have a stake in the remaining coil that I simply pull out and shove in the grass to open my “gate” and I think it is perfect. So much of veggie gardening is imperfect, but so abundant. There is always more you could do but it just brings a feeling of contentment over me when I see how simple things can bring so much bounty to our kitchen.
I haven’t blogged much in the past few years, but my blog has a lot of my garden pictures if you care to look 🙂
We’ve been harvesting lots of strawberries and rhubarb. There’s a pie in our future. 🙂 Tonight my husband made strawberry milkshakes with our homemade ice cream, which includes pastured egg yolks, maple syrup and raw cream fresh from the farm… YUM!
Our peas aren’t flowering yet, but hopefully soon. Greean beans and radishes are doing great. I’m so bummed my lettuces and greens didn’t come up. I’m trying to decide if it’s too late to replant in a shady area. We’re finishing up hardening off the tomato plants, bell and banana peppers, eggplant (1st try), parsley, and rosemary. I have a ton of oregano, tarragon and thyme from previously established plants. Time to make a batch of chicken stock with fresh herbs!
I did a similar post last week… It seems like after all those months of winter my garden was NEVER going to look like a garden, then all of a sudden I was working on it, I looked around, and I was like “hey, this looks pretty good!” http://crunchythriftycool.blogspot.com/2011/06/ahh-progress.html
I can’t wait to hear more about your off grid adventures this summer. I myself have slacked on cutting out electricity use lately and need to redouble my efforts. Again, thanks for all your inspiration!