Preserving

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The Home Garden Mid-July

The Home Garden is starting to look much better the past couple of days since our nice rain on Sunday evening. It's still not up to par...but, all in all it is doing surprisingly well.

This is the Left Cold Frame Bed
It is filled mostly with dry beans now. There are a couple of Celery plants hiding in the back and some bare spots in the front. I'm going to sow some lettuce in the empty spaces soon.

This is the Right Cold Frame Bed
I pulled almost all of the Spring Carrots from this bed on Monday. There are still a few tiny ones left around the edges. There is also some huge Lacinto Kale in this bed still going strong.

This Kale was planted out last September!

This is Bed #1
There are a couple of cabbages left in this bed. I sure wish they would head up so I can harvest them. I sowed some Little Marvel Peas in this bed a couple of days ago. Hopefully, we will get a nice fall crop as I was not happy with my Spring Shelling Peas.

At the other end of Bed 1 there are a few Celery Plants, a couple of Dry beans and some newly planted Pepper Plants. "The Italian" brought me home 7 pepper plants last night. He got them for free and are varieties that he wants. I guess, it's better late then never for him to decide he wants a particular variety of anything besides tomatoes in the garden! Most of this bed will be sown with Spinach at the end of the season to overwinter. That's the only way I have been successful with spinach.

Bed #2 
There are 4 tomatoes planted in this bed.

3 known varieties and 1 unknown variety. There is a lot of that going on with my tomatoes this year! 

This is what is left of the carrots that were growing in between the tomatoes. Some bunny thought it was a Bunny Buffet!

The Sungold tomatoes are coming on like gangbusters! Boy, they are a wonderfully sweet tomato! Thanks Dave!

These are Paul Robeson tomatoes. Seed compliments of Jeff. These babies are huge and boy are they great tasting! Come on and get ripe already!

Bed #3
This is where most of the garlic was planted. Now there are dry beans and slicing cucumbers growing for "The Italian". 

These cucs are finally putting out a few a day. As you can see, the earlier leaves dried up and were spotted. The plants looks great now!

The Fall Broccoli, Cauliflower & Cabbage starts are undercover on the back porch. They are about 2-3 weeks old. Something was nibbling on them, so they were given a good dusting of DE and covered with a shade cloth. I hope this works.

My Dwarf Carmine Jewel Cherry Tree is growing very very well. Truthfully, I'm very surprised how much it has grown.

The Herb Garden is not looking great. It's usually overgrown and nice and green. The drought has been a bit tough on it.

The back part of the Herb Garden is very sparse too. The Spaghetti Squash are starting to take off and  

climb along the fence in both directions.

The Sage Bush is the only thing in the Herb Garden that is looking great.

We also have one some what pretty flower pot right now.
My flower pots are not nearly as nice as they have been in the past.


24 comments:

  1. You should be so proud of your garden. Everything looks so wonderful and "happy" to be there. I love the Tuscan Kale. I had a large plant that I let go to seed and it was fantastic to see how large it grew and the yellow flowers it developed. I guess as I am approaching that "going to seed" time in my own life cycle, I have a greater appreciation for it! :-)

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    1. Thanks Patricia, That kale sure is something!

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  2. Looks wonderful and lush! I will have to try Paul Robertson variety as I love large and tasty tomatoes - don't have patience for cherry tomato varieties even if my hubby likes them. :)

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    1. The Paul Robeson tomato is a dark variety like a CP. You will have to give it a try.

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  3. I've never heard of the Paul Robertson Tomato, I'm going to have to research the variety. Their huge!

    Has the weather been cooperating for you up there?

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    1. Our present heat wave is now ending with rain and thunderstorms. They weren't as bad as I expected.

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  4. Your sage looks lovely. One of mine is dying from lack of water. The other is on irrigation so occasionally gets watered. I hope the poor thing makes it.

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    1. Daphne, That poor sage bush was damaged from too much rain late last season and early this season. It's re-cooperating well. I hope your sage makes it through this horrible season.

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  5. I think your home garden looks pretty darned good, what with the weather you've had. I haven't even been picking any herbs, other than a bit of parsley. I still have so many dried or frozen from last year.

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    1. The home garden is starting to look much much better. We had some more nice rain yesterday....yippee!!

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  6. Note to self... DO NOT PLANT Tuscan Kale. They would take over most of my growing space! Wow those things are big.

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    1. Those kale plants are huge! I can't believe that they are still growing!

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  7. Hi Robin, Looks like you are growing lots of wonderful things in your home beds. I have empty places and should be planting but just too hot for me to be out there! I am beginning to wonder what zone I am in anymore! lol Nancy

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    1. Thanks Nancy, This weather sure has been crazy! Our heat wave is now ending. Do you believe the high tomorrow is supposed to be in the low 70's??? That's just crazy!

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  8. Nice and rain in the same sentence! Our carrots tend to be at the mercy of slimy sluggy mowers rather than bunnies.

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    1. We have been lucky to get nice rain on Sunday and then again yesterday. I really feel for you with the weather you have been having this year. More then half of our country is in drought. You on the other hand have had nothing but rain!

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  9. Your garden looks great, expecially considering all the heat and sporadic rain events you have dealt with this summer. I hope the new pepper plants grow well for you. I have seedlings for fall crops growing too and they looked like something was eating on them. It seemed to stop so hopefully they will have a chance to finish hardening off and be planted out soon. I am going to direct seed some kale this weekend as well for the fall crops.

    Your green thumb is showing again, as your garden and flower pots look beautiful.

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    1. Thanks Laura, my starts are really small. I sure hope that they do ok or I will be purchasing some!

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  10. The garden looks fantastic even if maybe the drought it taking it toll :) How do you support your tomatoes?

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    1. Thanks Vanessa, I support them with wire, which runs from post to post. Then I tie them to the wire. I have been doing this for a few years now and it works well for me. Tomato cages never seem to be sturdy enough or big enough.

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  11. wow I didn't realize your home garden was so big. It looks great!

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    1. It's really not big at all. I have four beds and the herb garden. The cold frame bed is divided in two. So I guess 5 beds.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by. I'm so happy to hear that you enjoy my blog. I have never had a guest writer and will have to give that a thought. I'll check out your blog in the next couple of days.

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