Garden Friday

 

 

 

Welcome to Garden Friday,

where we share what's growing in our Zone 7b garden.

Sunflowers are an all-time favorite.

Not only do they grace us with their beauty,

but they feed the birds and us as well!

 

The sweet potato bed is filling in.

A few more slips were planted 

to replace some that disappeared.

It's always so much fun to harvest potatoes of any kind.

You just never know what lies beneath the soil.

 

A couple of what I believe to be birdhouse gourd plants

showed up underneath our wooded area.

These seeds were sown last year,

but nothing ever germinated.

I guess the almost 7 inches of rain we got this week did the trick.

 

Basil has been harvested for tea,

which I did "suntea" style on the front porch.

I'm hoping to make a batch or two of pesto

that I can put in the freezer.

It's still early in the season for this crop,

so I should be able to accomplish that goal.

 

It's so exciting to see the corn growing!

Even if we don't get one ear,

it's been fun to watch this plant do what it does.

Maybe next year I will plant even more.

Nothing says summer like corn on the cob

smothered in copious amounts of butter.

 

Some of the Jacob's Cattle beans dried on the vine.

I'm pretty disappointed with my bean crop so far,

and it's something I need to get good at.

Beans are a large part of my diet.

It will be on my mind next spring when I give this another go.

 

 

Did you know that something eats okra besides humans?

I don't ever remember the okra getting decimated this way.

A closer look found these nasty buggers,

 

which quickly went into a bin and were fed to the chooks.

They love 'em some Japanese beetles!

Here's another critter found last night.

It seems to be eating holes in the cucumber plants,

but it's not affecting them, so I'll leave them be.

My approach to pest control these days

is to leave things in place as much as possible,

and let the beneficial insects take care of the balance.
 

pest patrol

 

That volunteer squash I found growing 

behind the straw bale has succumbed to a vine borer.

The plant never did develop any female flowers,

so we probably wouldn't have gotten any fruit.

I plan to sow some winter squash soon.

 The chooks have been getting a steady diet of not only beetles,

but also tomato hornworms that I've been bringing home from work.

Some of them are almost too big for one hen to handle!

It's hilarious to watch them fight over them,

trying to snatch it out of each other's beaks.

Life is better with chickens.

 

These lantana took a while to start growing,

but they are a lovely shade of pinks and yellows.

I'm hoping they will come back after the winter.

 

The cannas around the chook run have been blooming 

for a few weeks now.

They are interplanted with sunflowers

and I have a few more cannas to transplant 

from other areas of the yard.

 

The lavender and allyssum have been moved out of the sun.

The heat seemed to be too much for them,

and they weren't doing much.

I think they'll be happier on the front porch.

Ruby

 

It's amazing how rain will do so much for us.

Not only does the garden lap it up,

it cools off these humid summer days

so that the evening hours are quite enjoyable outdoors.

 

How are you spending these summer days?

 

 

Garden Friday

 

Greetings and welcome to another edition of

Garden Friday!

We're sharing what's growing in our Piedmont Zone 7b garden.
 

 

With a couple of nice rainfalls,

our crops are moving forward.

Here, some melons begin to set fruit on the female flowers.

 

The okra in the straw bale definitely doubled in size this week.

We have more seedlings to add to other bales.

This is the Clemson Spineless,

but we will be transplanting a few of the Bradford Family variety.

 

The bees managed to stay hydrated this week,

and found our new chook waterers helpful.

 

Our largest pumpkin plant is now flowering

and looking very healthy.

No babies found yet on the flowers,

but it should happen soon.

 

The Jacob's Cattle beans are filling out nicely.

They are also called Appaloosa beans,

as they resemble the pattern on those beautiful steeds.

The goal is to have dry beans,

so these will be left on the plant until they completely dry out.

 

The mystery squash is probably the healthiest plant in the garden.

It decided to grow underneath one of the straw bales,

and it looks like nothing will slow it down!

 

Cucumbers were spied on several plants,

so it looks like I'll be making refrigerator pickles

and cuke salads all summer long.

No complaints from me!

 

Our garlic was harvested last weekend.

The crop yielded about 80 heads,

but many were quite small.

It's drying or "curing" in the garage for another week.

 

My order has already been placed 

for garlic seed to plant in the fall.

Our harvest lasts us an entire year.

 

Once the garlic was pulled,

we were able to put in our sweet potato slips.

We grew these from organic sweet potatoes found at the grocery store.

It looks like someone discovered how good the leaves are,

as several plants disappeared the day after they were planted.

 One of the areas around the two south raised beds

was providing me with too much work in the way

of weed management.

It seemed like a good time to put down

these huge cardboard boxes to suppress all that nonsense.

Wood chips will be added on top.

 

Summer is right around the corner,

and the sunflowers tell the story!

Our pollinator bed is filling in with 

all sorts of beauties.

 

One of my momma's favorite flowers were glads.

This and several others were planted here before we came.

It's almost like Mimi was waiting for us.

vitex

The vitex is starting to bloom 

and the bees are all over it!

There is also a mockingbird nest in its branches.

We are blessed with so much nature around us.

What's happening in your garden?

Garden Friday

     Welcome to Garden Friday!

We are in the midst of rebuilding our veggie garden.

The photo above shows what it looked like just a few months ago.       

This shot was taken yesterday.

I've been working on getting most of the tear out done

to enable the leach field to work properly for our septic system.

You can read the back story here.

The arches will be moved by the weekend,

and the old chicken coop will be listed for sale.

Read about our new chicken coop here.

It's been a slow process, which is why I actually took this week off from work.

The first step was to remove the layers of bark mulch.

I added it to the pathway in the back of the house.

This used to be our watermelon patch.

We will definitely be planting this again next year.

Just look at those roots!

I have to admit, tearing out the newly planted asparagus hurt.

I know Cooperative Extension usually offers it for sale in the spring

during their annual plant sale.

This will be on the list.

The soil that was in the beds was removed,

and placed in a pile to be used only for ornamentals.

There's just no way of knowing if it was contaminated,

so it can't be used for growing food.

Before all of the boxes were cleaned out,

the girls decided to do some digging for treats.

The beds have been taken apart, and thankfully,

can be reused in the new location.

We did get some good news from the septic company,

who came by to give us an estimate on some work that needs to be done.

Since the pipes in the leach field were buried so deeply,

there's not much chance that the adjoining sloped area

will have any problems.

Originally, I was planning to use pallets to keep my containers off the ground,

and only grow in pots, thereby ruling out any fear of contamination.

Reassured by the experts, I know that I can safely grow in my raised beds.

With a new focus on the fall garden,

I resowed all of the crops that had not germinated.

Thankfully, we have lots of goodies coming up in our toilet paper roll "pots".

The chooks got moved to a new spot as well

and seem to be enjoying their new digs.

I can't tell you what a thrill it is to head out there at dusk,

and see them all tucked in and ready for bed.

They have been foraging every morning while I've been working on the garden.

They have brought so much purpose to my life

and solidify my belief in the homesteading lifestyle.

It only took them a couple of days to figure this treat container out.

They peck at the sides and the slits release sunflower seeds.

This trellis needs to be moved,

but I'm hesitant as the hyacinth bean has just started to bloom.

 

I'd love to see it covered in these gorgeous orchid-like blossoms.

We will rise again!

I adore this photo that my sister took of me.

It was taken before the squirrels decimated our sunflowers.

Just like those beautiful flowers,

our new garden will thrive and grow gangbusters!

You can count on that.

(I have no idea why the new blogger format spaces out my sentences.

If you can help me fix this, I would appreciate it.)