The Maple Hill Hop 78

Welcome to 

The Maple Hill Hop.

This is a hop for folks who love the outdoors.

Feel free to post about anything that's going on

OUTSIDE

in your neck of the woods,
no matter the season.

(Please share only outdoor posts.)

*Please link back to Maple Hill 101.*

Congratulations to Susan Schmitz!
You are the Sow True Seed recipient
from last week's giveaway!
If you'll email me at naturegurl1111@gmail.com,
I'll get those seeds right out to you!
Happy planting!

************

We've been tweaking our backyard garden

for the past few weeks.

Today we'll share the third and final veggie bed installed.

These broccoli and eggplant were put in a few months back.
My gardening coach, Lynn, had given me quite a few extra seedlings he had.
A great perk of the job!
There were still a few ornamentals that needed to be relocated.
The beautyberry and the avocado tree had to stay,
so I worked around them.
The little shade that they provide can only be a good thing.
In the summer here, it's difficult to grow much,
so the shade will provide a bit of relief.

Once the ornamentals found another spot in the garden,
newspaper was laid down, 
as we had done in the other two beds we created.
This not only deters weeds, 
but acts as insulation around the plants
to keep them cooler in summer.
Once the newspaper breaks down, 
it adds nutrients to the soil.

The soil mix was then added on top of the paper.

Ready for planting!

We used the trench method again for these tomatoes,
as they were way past needing to be put in the ground.
When they get spindly, this method ensures that the stems will have enough support.
You can see that these maters are already bearing fruit.

We put in some of our cannellini beans.
These are wonderful in soups, stews, pasta salads and made into bean burgers.
This is our first time growing these.



We also planted some of these.
Guess what?

They were the first to come up!

We had acquired some pigeon peas from folks who came to one of our plant giveaways.
Never tasted these before,
but Sister is familiar with them, as she's from Trinidad.
Looking forward to seeing how these grow.

We reused the trellis we had made for our sugar snap peas.
A few metal pieces and some baling twine were all that was required.
The pine straw mulch keeps everything snug as a bug.

We added the twine about every 2 inches, 
so the beans will have ample support.
We'll continue to add twine as the beans grow up the trellis.

Last week, we posted about how we use this stuff
around the homestead.
It's one of the best items to recycle.

I added some leek as a border along the back of the bed.
This was another leftover from Lynn,
as he is running out of room for all of his goodies.
I'm happy to host them in our garden!
The last sowing was a few okra seeds.
They've already come up as it's the perfect time
for them to grow.
Gotta have some for our pickled okra recipe.

Now that all of the veggie beds are planted,
I'm working on our former veggie bed turned melon patch/flower bed.
There's always something goin' on outside here.
How 'bout you?

HOP on! 

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