Garden Friday

 

 Welcome back to Garden Friday,

where we share what's growing on our Zone 7b Piedmont homestead.

This stunning sunflower display is actually

on one of the properties where I work.

Isn't it just amazing?

Back in our garden, the first of the kajari melons

has been picked and sampled.

It was utterly delicious with a taste somewhere between

a honeydew and a cantaloupe.

The mesh bags I used to keep them from dropping worked great.

 

 

 I read that it's best to wait until the green stripes fade

before eating them.

This one had detached from the vine, so I brought it in.

Sweet and juicy!

 

I watched a video with Ben, from Grow Veg,

who potted up strawberries to make new plants.

I took runners from the main plant

and simply placed them in a pot

with fresh potting soil.

The trick here, is to keep the runner attached to the mother plant

until it is able to grow on its own.

 The seeds that had been planted last week

are germinating slowly.

The lettuce still hasn't come up,

so I may have to direct seed more in the beds.

 The corn we grew (first time growing corn),

turned out half done.

This is dent corn,

so the chooks were bound to eat it anyway.

I have a few theories about why it didn't mature properly.

 

 

Seed saving has been ongoing for a while now.

Here is a leek head that I let dry in a paper sack.

Leeks are one crop I never want to be without.

This was a strange sight found this week in our turf grass.

It's a mushroom,

and rumor has it, that if you smash it,

it sends up some kind of black powder.

Nature is amazing.

alyssum and celosia

I found a local Master Gardener who does landscape design,

so I'm going to see if she can make up a plan for our beds.

I love planting, but I don't have an eye for design,

so it'll be worth it to use an expert.

 

The fountain grasses on the front porch

are one of my favorite plants.

With each passing day, they get better and better.
 

Guess who came-a-calling this week in our pollinator bed?

This is the first Monarch we've seen so far this season.

Goodness knows we have plenty of milkweed to keep them fed.

 

A few more of my summertime favorite blooms:

 

Cactus Zinnia

 

Zinnia

 

Seed head from Tithonia

and this wonderful Hyacinth Bean vine over the chicken run.

This beauty loves the heat and has gone wild!

It's amazing how much cooler it feels underneath.

 

 Speaking of chooks,

would you look at these two daffy girls?

There are 7, count 'em, seven places for them to nest

and lay their eggs.

What do they do?

Sit on top of one another!

Talk about stubborn!

Well, they are always entertaining,

I'll grant them that.

 

Here's hoping everyone where you are has enough room to stretch out!