Monday, June 30, 2014

"Garden Photos the Last Day of June, 2014........."

My two "Golden Grape" Heritage tomatoes in their hanging pot.


Another Heritage Cherry Tomato, "Sun Gold".


One of the 3 blueberry bushes I planted last year with several Strawberry plants throughout the bed, too.


I replaced one of the dwarf peach trees, planted this Spring, that did not come out of dormancy, with this Dwarf "Moongold" Apricot.  Also in this photo, in the background to the right, is the other Apricot, "Moonpark", replacing another peach tree which also didn't break dormancy.


An overview of raised garden beds, now behind a 2' tall metal fence.  Previously, the long, low bed was surrounded with plastic netting, which I found does not deter rabbits.  :(  I had extra seedlings of Summer Squash, which I planted in pots and meant to have on the deck, but after seeing one of the blossoms nipped off by "presumably" a chipmunk, I decided to set them behind the wire fencing, too.  Unfortunately, now I know that nothing seems to be able to stop chipmunks from going where they want to.  :(


A closer view of one of the 2 Zucchini plants in the far left raised bed.  Looks like I will be picking this one very soon!  I swear it developed almost overnight!  :)


One of several Summer Squashes "soon to be ready for harvest"......


Here is a photo of the entire 8' long, 4' wide, and 2' tall raised bed with the 4 squash, 2 each of Zucchini and Summer Squash in the back, 3 Dwarf "Green Martian" Heritage Tomatoes in the middle, 6 Kale, with Bush Green Beans surrounding the Kale.  More Bush Green Beans are to the side and behind the Squash, too......definitely being overpowered.  :)


Our 5 "Sugar Baby" Watermelons.  My "hope" is that I will be able to train them to climb the trellis and that the developing watermelons can be tied to the trellis using lengths of old shower scrungy netting, like little "hammocks".  ;)


A view of the 5 Heritage Peppers and 4 (2 each) Heritage Tomatoes......



And last but not least, in the end bed, is one of my small Strawberry patches.  The new metal fencing so far is keeping the rabbits at bay, but it does not stop the chipmunks from getting into and taking bites out of or running away with my strawberries.  My plan is to soon build a tiered strawberry planter which will be entirely enclosed with removable sides and top in hopes of protecting next years harvest.


Here is an overview photo of the other 8'x4'x2' raised bed.  In the foreground is a mixed bed of Dill and Garlic bulbs (which are not doing well), behind those and on the left are onions (a mix of red, white, and yellow), with Brussels Sprouts behind them.  As you can see, the rest of the bed is planted with Cabbages and climbing along the left side and rear are Sugar Snap Peas.  The Peas were labeled as "Bush" but I found they still needed support to climb.


Here is a close up of the "Sugar Snap Peas" showing both flowers and "soon to be harvested" pods.


On the deck we have one container of Heritage Tomatoes.....1 "Hana" and 1 "Wild Thyme", both of which are considered green tomatoes when ripe (although there might be some striping of orange, yellow, or red), and numerous pots of Sweet Basil.  Not shown are my pots of Chives and Ginger root.


If it weren't for losing some Strawberries to the chipmunks, and earlier, whole Broccoli plants to rabbits, I would be completely happy with my garden this year.  But as my cousin, Barb, says, "They have to eat, too"!.  ;)  All I can do is work with what I have and hopefully, by next Spring, "Learn from this year and work out the glitches".  :)





2 comments:

Barb said...

Michael, your garden is just amazing! Which is exactly what you richly deserve after all your hard work.

Molly Bee said...

Quite a garden enterprise you've got there!!!!