Welcome to the first Garden Friday of the summer season!
We are welcoming new growth and new life.
The corn is slowly making progress.
This is a first time crop for me,
and I'm happy with any success with it.
As this is our initial foray into corn growing,
we started with a small block of eight seeds,
7 of which germinated.
The pumpkins are still doing well,
although I haven't yet spied any fruit on the vine.
It's early though, so I will be patient.
The cucumbers have started bearing fruit,
so I will be getting my jars ready for quick pickles.
It will also be nice to be able to share these with the chooks.
They love some frozen cucumbers!
I thought this was a cucumber beetle,
but the bug I saw does not match the photos I've seen.
It's on the squash plant, but it's not a typical squash beetle either.
Any ideas?
Fortunately, the good guys gals are easy to recognize!
This squash plant has showed no signs of slowing down
or of being affected by our 90+ degree temperatures this week.
The leaves are enormous!
These sad looking potatoes are ready for harvest.
I'm hoping to get that done this weekend,
as our garlic is fully cured,
and I can use the same drying system for the taters.
Potatoes are one of the easiest crops to grow,
with very little in the way of pest pressure.
It's so exciting to see the melons on the vines out there.
We all love watermelon and I've been making lots of
watermelon lemonade the last few weeks.
So refreshing!
Some of the cannas around the chicken run
have started to bloom.
What a gorgeous, tropical-like blossom!
I have very little red in my garden,
but for these, I make an exception.
The turmeric is bouncing back
now that it is outside under our maple tree.
It spent the winter in the garage,
along with our aloe vera.
This inflammatory-reducing herb is a beautiful plant
all on its own.
The medicinal benefits are a bonus!
Although I admire this nest made by a mockingbird,
it was too high up for me to take a peek
at what was inside.
Bird nests are always so fascinating and truly works of art.
I was, however, able to get a glimpse of this bluebird house
and its inhabitants.
So sweet is their chirping.
No doubt they will be off on their own adventures very soon.
What's happening in your summer garden?
Everything looks so good! And those squash leaves - wow!! This is the second time I've grown corn, and I only planted a handful of seeds as well. I was successful the first time except critters were stealing them.... Now that we're fenced in, we'll see if we get more ears for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what that bug is but I've seen it around here as well.
Will you grow another round of potatoes for fall/winter harvest? I almost tried my hand at turmeric this year and decided against it. Maybe next year. I'll have to overwinter it inside. I opted not to grow pumpkins or melons this year although I did put a few winter squash seeds in and the plants are doing good. So far.
Sugar snaps are still producing as are the greens and lettuce. Tomatoes and peppers have fruit (small, but it's something!) as do the summer squash, but still waiting on the winter squash and cucumbers to develop some. For the first year ever 4 of my green bean plants do not look good but all of the others are doing fine. Strange.... I can't remember if the 4 are a different variety, but possibly. Another strange thing, I've planted red noodle beans 3 times and I'm not sure what's happening to the seeds/plants but they are disappearing or dying. Odd. Our potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions look amazing and the brassicas are coming along slowly.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
The cucumbers started bearing here this week too. I'd been thinking once the older frozen squash was finished, I'd begin giving the chickens cucumbers. Ours love them too. That's one happy squash! I wish I could say our potatoes have little pest pressure, but we battle the ants, wire worms and pill bugs with them. This area seems to have higher than usual pest pressure of all sorts, possibly because the soil is so poor. We just keep working on building it up.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet nest. Don't you just love the mockingbird's song? They always put a smile on my face, with their exuberance. I've been blending watermelon and drinking it, but the lemonade sounds good too. Have a lovely weekend!
What a sweet shot of the baby bluebirds. Everything in your garden looks great! I had to replant my melons as my cantaloupe didn't make it. I planted watermelon instead. Now I just have to keep the soil moist in these hot days until the roots establish themselves.
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