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

 

 

cactus zinnia

Welcome to Garden Friday,

where we share our Zone 7b Piedmont garden.

 

Our bed of sweet potatoes is doing fine,

now that we've had some steady rain.

This is one of the easiest plants to grow,

with little pest pressure

(I hope I'm not jinxing myself),

and double the food.

The roots are edible once harvested,

but until then, the leaves can be eaten as well.

 

The melons are enjoying the wetter weather.

A few of these netted bags were added to the larger fruit,

so that they will not break the vines if they get too heavy.

The bags are repurposed from citrus, potatoes and onions,

and are tied onto the cattle panel trellis.

There are SO many lil' melons out there!

 

The okra has grown by leaps and bounds,

as okra is prone to do with any sort of attention.

The straw bales had to be propped up a bit,

as they were collapsing from the moisture.

Making frames for the bales will be on my winter task list.

 

The cukes are consistently giving us food.

I've made refrigerator pickles with some,

and others are added to my daily salad.

The flavor is good and the skin is thin,

which makes for good eating.

 

The basil (you say BAY-ZIL, I say BA-ZIL),

will be used for savory dishes, but also for something new.

I heard about making basil tea on a YouTube channel called

"Roots and Refuge", and can't wait to try it.

 

Meet my dragon's tongue bean.

The only one.

As soon as I noticed this beauty,

the next day the plant dried up.

Ugh.

I will be planting more this weekend,

along with bush beans and a few other goodies.

 

Speaking of unexpected surprises

(and not in a good way),

our first pumpkin patch just decided to die on us.

I was diligent about watering,

before all this rain came our way,

and I even remembered to fertilize it when it flowered,

so I'm not sure what happened.

Haven't spied any bugs on it,

so who knows.

 

Our second patch is doing better.

This one was planted a few weeks after the first,

so I'm crossing fingers that it makes it.

I've always wanted to have my own personal pumpkin patch.

Maybe Linus Van Pelt himself will show up!

 

The mystery squash still shows no signs of slowing down.

It also doesn't show any female flowers on the stem.

The bees are all over it all day long,

but so far, I think it's going nowhere fast.

Ah well, it's a nice vertical statement in the garden.

 

Our carrot crop is still working on going to seed,

although I think it's getting closer.

These are two plants in the same bed,

but notice the difference in textures.

I didn't realize it took so long for this process

with this particular crop.

I have other carrots growing, so that I can harvest as needed,

and I will most likely succession sow some more.

It just makes sense to grow carrots, potatoes

and onions all year long.

We are blessed with a long growing season.

 

The veggie garden is getting fuller by the day,

and after this weekend, it will be maxed out.

Until something else is harvested,

and then it all begins over again.

 

On the flowery side of things,

our pollinator bed is already bursting.

This is one of the beds from the original garden location,

and placed here specifically to encourage pollinators

to work their magic on the veg garden.

When we had to relocate most of the garden beds,

this one stayed put, as there was no contamination issue,

since these were all ornamental plants.

We have a mixture of candy tuft, coreopsis, daisies, 

rudbeckia, sunflowers and zinnias growing here now.

 

 

The front porch pots are filling out nicely.

I love this combination of the fountain grass 

and the pop of color from the calibrachoa.

There is also a sedum in there,

but it has been overtaken!

I'll find another pot for it.

 

 

 These balloon flowers have grown taller than expected.

They have a home in the pollinator bed near the mailbox.

I've had to prop them up because they refused to stand tall

without any support.

They were given to me by a friend,

and I think of her each time I enjoy their beauty.

Gardening friends are the best, don't ya think?

The new chooks are settling in to the routine.

The divider between the two sets of chooks 

has been removed, and they now all mingle together.

I can't say it's been a peaceful transition,

but it sure is nice to have a few more sweet souls to tend to.

And we are getting 2-3 dozen eggs a week.

Bless their little egg-laying selves.

Here's some video shot yesterday during our downpour.

Don't you feel cooler just watching it?

Ah, nothing spells relief from the heat like 

R-A-I-N!

Hope you are blessed with what you need this week!

Garden Friday

 

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?