The Green Side of Life: Veggie Garden August 2022.

I posted pictures and a video of the garden HERE. There’s a bit of commentary, but basically, I kinda rock when it comes to growing tomatoes. I thought I had four kinds, normal, grape, Roma, and cherry. Turns out I didn’t. What I thought were Roma tomatoes turned out to be grape. If they all ripen at once I’ll have more than I can use, so people at work will get some. Hubby also said I should give some to the food kitchen in town. I like that idea better.

Squash are doing wonderful. I was worried for a while because the first fruit was turning yellow and falling off the vine. I read up about it and it said that the fruit wasn’t being pollinated. Okay, the problem with that is, that there were no flower blooms on them. I have four vines growing off each plant and now they’re doing wonderful now. I thought one plant was a pumpkin, but nope. Both butternut squash.

Cucumbers are doing good, despite what the video showed. I just forgot to water them that morning. I don’t mind the peppers being that small either. They have more flavour and I use the whole pepper instead of just part of it. I had one that turned orange, but it went soft very quickly.

The only herb I lost was sage, and my carrots went too. I’m not sure about the leeks or lettuce. Those were more of ‘let’s see if I can grow it’, deal.

Pictures of the garden are HERE.

Video is HERE.

State of the Garden: August 1, 2014

I just wanted to post some pictures of how the veggie garden is coming. I’m not sure how I did it, but the whole thing exploded. So much so, we’re thinking of extending it another four feet next year. Click on the picture for a closer look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My biggest surprise was the zucchini and cabbage. Had I thought they would get to be so big, I would have made other plans. I’m not sure when to harvest either the cabbage or the Brussels sprouts, and I’ve harvested several large zucchini already and a few onions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve never seen tomatoes grow like this before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is how Brussels sprouts grow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My herbs runneth over….

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the barrels are producing fruit, once Sitboy stopped mowing over the vines…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gardens? Hello gardens? Are you there?

It’s coming up to that time of the year, folks. My gardens are SCREAMING for some attention. We have plans for all the gardens this year, but whether or not we do them is another matter. Husband has been doing a lot of side jobs this last year and he can’t seem to shake the habit. I took these pictures yesterday.

This is my veggie garden, but right now, it’s a mass of weeds, dead crops from last season and a couple buckets of ash from the woodstove. That white thing you see is part of a clothes rack we had for drying clothes by the woodstove. I can’t remember what reason Husband put it in there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the front garden. That big green blob are Bachelor Buttons. They’re a nice purple/blue and I planted a few of them, but this is the only one that survived. That other green blob farther up and to the left is a ferny kind of perennial and I think one of the two we have to relocate. There are two that get so tall they crowd out everything else. My peonies, that light brown blob at the top of the picture, haven’t bothered to poke their buds out yet. I don’t blame them.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the side garden. For years I would get down on my hands and knees and dig up the grass and other stuff. I’m not going to bother anymore. I think I’ll plant spring bulbs in here and let them go wild. The former owner dug up all the bulbs before she moved (bitch), but she missed a few and they multiplied. We tried planting some evergreen shrubs but because the dryer vent is right there, they died off. The plant that’s there is called a spirea and has beautiful white flowers all over it.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the well. I planted tulips on three sides one year and they still keep coming up. I was going to have a whole slew of spring bulbs around it, I still may too.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can get out and make them look a little better. Husband has a great idea for the barrels this year and I’m excited about experimenting!

Are you gardening this year?

It’s summer! Garden time! With pictures!

The only thing that gets me through the long cold winter is the knowledge that come spring, my gardens are going to come alive! We’re doing a veggie garden again, and so far, things look good!

 

Flower Garden

 

Here is the front garden this year. It’s filled out quite a bit more than last year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Husband’s Grandmother’s lupines’ came up and they look beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White and Blue Forget-me-not’s from my Mother’s garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t remember the name of this flower, but it’s flowers are a burnt orange.

 

 

 

 

 

Impatient, but it’s stuck in the shadow of the neighbour plant, so I’m not sure how big it’s going to get.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Deep Purple petunias. I love these! The colour is so dark and rich.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My peonies. The plant is so top heavy once the flowers come out. I put a tomato cage around them, but even that can’t keep them up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I forget the name of this flowering bush, but it’s so beautiful and full of blooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Mesquite tree in bloom. So beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We put red and white petunias in the two barrels and I’m hoping the over-run the barrel by July 1^st.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Veggie Garden  

We’re only doing veggies we know we can grow. No more experiments for us. I took this picture the other day. The weeds are going to be bigger by the time I get back to weeding it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Front-yellow peppers, middle and back-tomatoes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Onions. Nothing but onions. Big, small, red.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two rows of radishes at the back and a row of lettuce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two rows of carrots. Now I did get in and do some weeding last weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Squash and cucumbers. We have early squash and butternut.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also put in some beans and peas along the fence. The beans were self-sowing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are you growing this year?

The End of my 2012 Garden

This summer was brutal. I can’t remember when we had such a long period of hot weather. I got curious and looked it up online. They’re calling this year’s drought the worst in a decade. I can believe that.

I was really excited about the garden this year. I was doing well too; kept it weeded, watered every morning, but the heat was too much. I couldn’t keep up with the water demands. We don’t have a hose, so I had to lug two, two-litre watering cans across the year. It quickly turned into a burden. Husband said next year we’ll get a hose. Great, but our hookup in on the opposite side of the house that the garden is on.

The garden didn’t yield much either. Both cucumber plants died off mid-July, and the tomatoes were taking forever to ripe. We got a few string beans, enough to have for one dinner. No peas, broccoli or cauliflower because of the heat. Watermelon vine just up and quit, and the ‘early’ squash wasn’t early at all. It ripened around the same time as the regular. We got three good size squash off of two plants. Considering the amount of blooms, I’m upset.

Green peppers weren’t as big as last year. By the time we realized this, they were turning orange. They’ were still good, but I just wasn’t in the mood for red peppers. Not many tomatoes grew on the vine and the ones we did ripen were either eaten by critters or they got that black rot on the bottom. I think we got 3?  Ah well, maybe next year.

So, how did you fare this growing season?

Veggie Garden-1, Chipmunk-0

It’s been a couple weeks since I posted pictures of the veggie garden. I’m surprised, the little critters have managed to keep out of it. I think it had something to do with my scent when I weeded. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.

So, the veggies are doing really good. Even the ones we planted late.

The green pepper plant has started to flower,

And we have tomatoes on the vine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The broccoli has floweretts already, which is surprising as it was one of the secondary veggies we planted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the vines (l-r) cucumber, butternut squash, cucumber. No flowers yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the veggies we planted to replace the corn (top left) watermelon, (bottom left) early squash, (centre) corn, (bottom right) lettuce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then a whole pile of cauliflower. We have six plants total. I don’t know if I can eat that much cauliflower, though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are peas, green beans and yellow beans. Don’t ask me which are which. Husband planted them so I have no idea.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and beans/peas in a barrel. They started hooking on to each other and I had to break a few runners to pull them apart, but so far, so good.

I don’t know which surprises me more; the fact these are growing so well, or that I’m keeping up with the maintenance. We didn’t do a garden last year and the year before I was excited but that quickly changed. I don’t know why I changed this year. Maybe it’s all those reports I keep hearing about how we need to get back into eating real food.

 YES! I SEE YOU!

Veggie Garden Update [pictures]

Got some exciting news! So far, our veggie garden is still intact! We went out last weekend and bought some more veggies to put in where the corn used to be (the critters left us two), and so far, so good!

Other than needing a good weeding, things are looking good in the veggie garden. We planted some broccoli (right down in front), squash and watermelon with the corn and some lettuce as well.   I need to go out and build up the soil around the tomato plant. They dug all around the base of the plant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love petunia’s, so when I found these black ones, I just HAD to have some. Too bad they’r only an annual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And beans in a barrel. Well, beans and peas. Husbands experiment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How are your gardens coming along? Anything new you’re trying to grow this year?