This is part of my Garden 2017 series of posts. You can see the earlier posts at:
Garden 2017 Update February Through May
June 2017
After tons of rain, the garden (plants and weeds) is growing like CRAZY! The plants put on tons of growth and blossoms. Some flowers are missing their petals and are leaning over due to too much rain.
However, many of the garden plants are finally producing fruits and vegetables!
We have two garden beds, plus a few planters growing produce and flowers. Garden Bed A is 12 x 16. We planted it with the square foot method of intense planting. It grew like crazy with all the rain. We need to tweak how we plant this garden bed next year. Though I am thankful for the abundance, we are not able to de-weed it at this stage and it looks like a mess.
Garden Bed A: Harvesting Green Beans!
The garden has been invaded by Japanese Beetle Bugs. They are quickly devouring the bean leaves.
The cucumbers have taken over the lavender. The lavender is in bloom too.
Harvesting cucumbers and green beans.
Bountiful harvest of green and yellow beans.
Dalia starting to bloom.
We often remove old blooms from petunias and they continue to produce beautiful flowers with bright colors.
Carrot tops are growing nicely.
We have had an abundance of leaf lettuce. We had a lot of rain and the lettuce seemed to really appreciate it.
Marigolds are in bloom.
Removing dead blooms from the geraniums will encourage new blooms.
Hanging basket with leaf lettuce.
This basked of lettuce has produced several harvests already.
Heirloom tomato plants.
I started several more heirloom tomato plants in milk jugs. Milk jugs are like mini greenhouses and it is a great way to start seedlings.
Petunias in barrel planters.
Garden Bed A: Small spinach patch is going to seed.
The spinach has produced an abundance and I have harvested it daily for several months.
Sweet potato vines and romaine lettuce growing in the aquaponics barrel. The romaine lettuce is about to go to seed. It has produced a lot of lettuce since we transplanted them months ago from lettuce we had already used during the winter and regrew. Lettuce is amazing!
Potato Bins are just about finished growing. Two have stopped sending out new plants, but this one still has new growth emerging. We can’t wait to open up these bins and see how they produced under all that straw and dirt. Hopefully we will have a nice potato harvest.
Garden Bed B
Garden bed B gets more shade than garden bed A. We built this one because we ran out of room in the first one for plants that like to spread out. In this one we planted different kinds of squash and watermelon, sweet potatoes, and a second planting of radish, and a few flowers and sunflowers to attract pollinators and to enjoy the flowers. So far there is nothing to harvest in this bed yet, but it is producing a lot of vines and leaves and blooms.
The cucumbers from Garden bed A are growing past the garden now. They are traveling out into the yard and growing the nicest cucumbers. They might think the garden bed is too crowded!
Though our garden project this year is small, the garden beds are producing some wonderful foods for our family.
I am thankful for these harvests. Summer harvests taste delicious and have so much more flavor than food from the store. I enjoy the beautiful flowers too and all of the variety of insects they attract that help pollinate the plants. This process of a summer garden is even more special when family spends time together planting the food, then watching it grow, and then brings in the harvest together. Enjoying time together is the best part!
Be blessed!