Garden Update - June

Well, it's been quite a while since I posted a new blog about my garden.

A couple of things have been slowing down my gardening progress. One, the weather has been very uncooperative with a major lack of sun and much cooler temperatures than normal. Two, I found out that the outside hose that I have been using to water all the seeds and plants was running through the water softener. Therefore the plants have been dehydrated and most of the seeds have not germinated. The plumber had to be called in to cut holes in the ceiling in the basement to correct the problem.

But now that that's all taken care of, hopefully my garden will start blooming as expected.

However, some of the earlier plants did survive, like potatoes, bush beans, sugar snap peas, onions, corn, sunflowers, and pumpkins. Those must be hardier than the others, like tomatoes, lettuce, garlic, cucumbers, carrots, and all the herbs, which are not doing that great.

Below is a picture of a few raised beds. The two small ones in the back contain lettuce. They all have been started from seed back in May and are just now starting to resemble leaf lettuce. The larger one in front has onions in the back row, which are looking OK. The middle row contains tomato plants that were started from seed by my neighbor. The one on the left came from seeds directly from Italy. These tomato plants look really weak. I think it is because they haven't gotten enough sun.                   

 The picture below are my potatoes. I don't know anything about growing or harvesting potatoes, but I think these are doing quite well. I'm not sure how to tell when they are ready to harvest, but form what I read, they have a little while longer.

 Here are my sugar snap peas. I find it fascinating how the stems are so delicate and how they find their way to the trellis and wrap themselves around the wire for stability. When they were smaller, I wasn't sure if they needed help to find their way, but my Mom said "just leave them and they will find their way" and they really did, and I think it is really cool!

In the front row there is parsley on the right, some coriander (cilantro) in the middle, which are not doing so well, and carrots on the far left.

 I thought I would include a picture of the rain barrel. I think it is really awesome that I can fill my watering can with rain water and use it to water my plants before I turn on the hose. Just doing my part in conserving water!

I was told that corn should be knee high by the fourth of July. Either my corn is doing really great, or my legs are extremely short. It's weird that the row on the left is small compared to the other three rows. I'm not sure what would cause that. I'm thinking maybe the taller corn might be blocking the sun at some part of the day, but I can't be positive. 

Here are some pumpkin plants. The leaves are starting to turn yellowish brown, so I am really hoping that they will survive. I'm really excited to grow my own pumpkins.                       

This is first year asparagus. I have quite a few of these that will go to seed and hopefully produce a better batch net season. It may take a few years to really have nice asparagus.

Below are a couple of wide shots of the garden, shed and greenhouse along with a picture of our flower garden. I'm really enjoying all of this, even when I have to water for so long. They beauty is all so worth it. And hopefully, the taste of it will be worth it too!