Garden Friday

These daisies just make me happy

 Welcome back to another Garden Friday!

Although summer is still two weeks away,

the summer-like heat is keeping things hopping in the garden.

 The squash/sweet potato/cucumber bed is taking off.

We had a good amount of rain this past week,

and the crops are eatin' it up!

I even spied the first cucumber blossom.

 About half of this 3X8 bed is planted with sweet potatoes.

Before harvest time, the leaves will be enjoyed in salads.

Guess who decided to come to the party?

This Delicata squash was one of three varieties planted at the beginning of May,

but just popped up this week.

 Daily pickings of snap peas keeps 'em comin'.

 It looks like something is snacking on the okra in the straw bales,

but this crop is one tough cookie.

There isn't much that keeps it from providing food.

The watermelon, also planted in bales,

will have to be tweaked this weekend.

I'll need to provide a spot for them to wander.

 This container of cantaloupe is being grown vertically,

but I think it will soon outgrow the space.

Such a nice problem to have!

It does make me think about next season,

and the idea of creating a couple of new beds for melons

just might be in the works.

These bush beans were transplanted last week

into straw bales and started taking a turn for the better over the last few days.

Unfortunately, this year, the bales got so hammered with heavy rain

before they were even planted, that many of them are not as solid as they should be.

It may require me to build wooden boxes for them to sit in,

so that next year they have more support. 

It shouldn't affect the growing this year.

strawberries

 Leek was harvested this week and used to make a couple of dishes.

It's so wonderful to have a produce aisle 

right in the side yard.

 The oregano is flowering and the pollinators love it!

 A handful of garlic heads were put to the side,

so that I don't forget to save some for planting.

They were wrapped in brown butcher paper

and placed in a paper sack until planting time.

 Our neighbor gave us three of these containers,

leftover from some trees he planted.

They have come in so handy,

placed in various spots around the garden.

Whenever I'm weeding or pruning,

the bits and bobs just get thrown into them,

and then they are taken down to the compost heap.

 Milkweed is flowering, but so far, no caterpillars!

 Several of the sunflowers were blown over

with the wind and weight of the rain.

These lengths of conduit are a great solution.

The yarrow out by the mailbox has a hard time standing up.

I'll try to figure out a solution this weekend.

 We have grown sunflowers every summer for as long as I can remember,

but these are by far the tallest we've ever had in the garden.

Mammoth, indeed!

 Just look at the diameter of the stalks!

 Coneflowers are a favorite.

This beauty was found on the job site.

 Back home, another coneflower hosts a busy bee.

 On my daily walk, I discovered wild tickseed

and promptly started to gather seeds from spent plants.

Nature is always providing.

 Isn't this bloom just glorious?

Another stunner found on a different job site.

It's been a busy and productive week.

I'm so grateful to be surrounded by people I love,

folks I love working with,

and the beauty ever provided by Mother Nature.

What's going on in your summer garden?