May 25, 2009: Pictorial Tour of the Garden (Part Two)

A Pictorial Tour of the Garden (part 2)
(click photos to enlarge)



The north garden


North garden bed #1 contains borage from Cheryl, godetia and pole beans. The mighty cutworm did his work on this garden, too. I have resown seeds of godetia in the center, but I think it's too late for them to do anything. Again, I have some nasturtiums that are ready to fill in, or I might sow some more carrots. One can never have too many carrots! The pole beans were planted too early, and are looking rather sparse. I think I might add another double row on the other side of the chain link fencing, as the lettuce in that small bed is almost past its prime.


North garden barrel #1 holds two kinds of melon seeds from Dan.


North garden bed #2 contains my strawberries and two varieties of onions, sweet and yellow.


The first ripe strawberry. I will savor it this afternoon.


North garden bed #2 holds the new Canby raspberries, which are doing very well and pushing up a lot of new canes, bush beans and spinach. This was the main spinach bed that exceeded my expectations. Once the leaf miners discovered the beet greens, I had very few problems with them harming the spinach.


The bush beans in this bed are just about ready to blossom.


We'll actually get a few raspberries from these new plants.


I cut the spinach right after taking its photo. It was my largest harvest to date, and it filled the kitchen sink.


I didn't even have a bowl large enough to contain it, so I had to weigh it on my cookie pan. It was a whopping 1-pound 10-ounces! I'm actually getting rather tired of spinach, so this will be blanched and frozen for later use.


North garden bed #4 holds the indeterminate tomatoes, a couple of stray brassicas, a pumpkin from Daphne and some lettuce and carrots that got a bit messed up when we installed the posts. The barrels against the fence contain two new blueberries (one growing well, the other doesn't look so good) and more nasturtiums. The pots of peppers that were grown in AZ are also against the fence. The peppers seem to be recuperating from their day of being wind and sunburned in a less sheltered area a couple of weeks ago.


North garden bed #5 is the squash garden. It has zucchini, yellow crookneck and butternut squash, along with a couple of sunflowers. I planted a lot of sunflowers here, but the birds must have made a meal of the seeds.


The tipsy pots got their own drip tubing installed yesterday. Today I'll see just how well that works. Each pot got a double coil of tubing with built in emitters. The lavender colored flowers are a bit washed out in this photo...they really are quite lovely. But that blue Wave petunia really jumps out at you, doesn't it?


And finally, the west garden with it's SWCs of tomatoes, a pot of bush cucumbers (there are also 2 pots of these in the north garden), calendula, basil (something is eating it) and marigolds. I stuck a few leftover lettuce plants in here last night, but this seems to be my most bug chewed bed of all, so I'm not sure they will survive. The tomatoes look great though, and are growing much faster in the containers than those in the beds.


15 comments:

  1. I'll take some of that spinach. Mine started out growing well and seems to have stalled out.

    I haven't posted in ages...haven't been able to focus on much of anything because of a potential health issue. But I just got good news this morning from the doctor, and I'm ready to turn my attention back to blogging. :)

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  2. "But I just got good news this morning from the doctor, and I'm ready to turn my attention back to blogging. :)"

    Well, THAT is certainly good news!

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  3. Your beans are an inspiration. Maybe I could take the monitor out back and shame mine into growth!!

    I wonder if beets as a distraction crop would enable spinach here. I'm going to have to hoop them with Reemay, I think.

    It looks lovely, especially the petunia!

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  4. Your garden looks lovely!

    I really need to get busy and create some sort of vertical element for my indeterminate tomatoes. :)

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  5. Stefaneener, I planted my beans way too early, and they just kind of sat there looking sickly until a couple weeks ago. Then they really took off. I hope the pole beans do the same, but they are really slow. I am happy the beets distracted the leaf miners, but they look so UGLY! Beet greens can be one of the prettiest tings in the garden when they are pristine. I just hate to look at mine.

    I can't wait for that petunia to get large and spill out over the sides of the pot! I hope it doesn't get too large and hide the plants below, but I guess I can always keep it pinched back.

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  6. Mommyamy, I need to get busy and tie my indeterminates up to the vertical elements!

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  7. Granny,

    Everything is looking mighty fine and getting so big in a short time.

    I can't wait to see how the tipsy pots look once the plants fill in a bit more.. they are just so cute!

    I almost had a strawberry... something took a bit out of it... then ants found it to be fair game and went after it.

    I love looking at your garden!

    Liisa

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  8. Liisa, I ate that strawberry tonight! I think it had to be the best tasting strawberry in the whole world ;-)

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  9. First harvest of anything always is the best of the lot. Glad you savored the first strawberry.

    I just did a blog entry on my website about harvesting, blanching, and freezing spinach. It's always the first preserving effort for the new garden season. I am ready for the peas and broccoli to be ready for harvest - as we have been eating heavily from spring greens and I am ready to move on!

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  10. Your garden and yard always looks so amazing. You rock!

    How is that siphon watering system working out for you? I am going to recommend it to my buddies that built the SWCs with me. All theirs are right next to each other too.

    Thanks for the tour! Love your garden!

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  11. KitsapFG, I'm getting tired of the greens, I'm ready for the tomatoes!

    Sifonian, it's working great. I get quite a bit of overflow from the first in line before the last one begins to flow, but it happens to overflow into some marigolds that don't get watered by the sprinklers so it's all good. I just turn the faucet on for a minute or two about every other day. You're welcome for the tour, I love taking the photos!

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  12. Your garden is really looking full, nice part 1 & 2. I harvested the last of the spinach yesterday and blanched/froze it too. It will probably end up in lasagna or cannelloni later.

    The melons are looking very nice. The ones I started are just growing true leaves. They were started in peat pots, those things are such a pain. They seem to dry out in an hour in the sun.

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  13. Dan, you really need to try the soil blocks, I'm sold on them. Hate the peat pots!

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  14. Your whole garden looks wonderful. Don't you hate those cutworms.I have a search and destroy mission every morning. First for the slugs, then for the cutworms. It is amazing how much damage they can do if you don't find them quickly.

    That is a really nice spinach harvest. Mine was not nearly so big. I still had plenty to freeze and did that last weekend.

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  15. Daphne, each time I've seen the cutworm damage I've dug around the area and not been able to find any. But I still know it's cutworms.

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