We are already in the tail end of June and the garden is finally starting to take off. For the longest time I was growing (see what I did there) impatient with how slow things seemed to be taking off. It seemed like the more care and attention I gave things the more they resisted me. But finally the tomatoes have buds and the cucumbers are slowly inching their way up the trellis. I thought I would give a little garden tour to show you the progress of the area!
This area is back by our sheep barn where the new baby lambs are. It’s been fun to have the surprises of them on the farm especially because we are home to see them. This area has an abundance of milkweed that we let grow wild for the butterflies. We mow a small path in it so we can walk from the house to the base of the barn. I love how it’s now taller than otto and he calls it his jungle. This path also leads down to the base of our orchard.
I was able to harvest two small bouquets from the garden this week while pinching off blooms to encourage my flowers to flourish. Pictured here are cosmos, snapdragons, zinnias, babies breath and foxglove. I ended up buying a few perennial foxglove plants because I never have luck with the varieties that get started from seed. They’re so fragile and for just a few bucks more I was able to score some plants off of facebook marketplace.
Last year I grew squash up the trellis (source) but this year I decided to do one more ornamental and one with a bit more fullness that didn’t require as much training. The trellis closest to the entrance will have sweet peas growing up it and the second will have cucumbers (yamato and Parisian pickles) . It took a bit for them to get established but now we are on our way and slowly climbing.
I planted this kiwi vine two years ago and still have not yet had a single kiwi but I love the way the deep green foliage continues to grow. It’s quite beautiful and I’m on the hunt for a “male” plant since all of the greenhouses around here sell the self pollinated female varieties. Although… I think that has proven a bit false.
I mix flowers and vegetables in my raised beds to keep competing pests away from each other. Nasturtium is good for around cucumbers to help ward off cucumber beetles although now I am fighting them off of my eggplant. I have used Neem oil which typically worked but this year they have been super resilient. I started sprinkling on Dichotomous earth in between watering and that seems to have worked a bit better this year.
Things are slowly taking off and in addition to flowers I’ve been able to harvest shelled peas, sugar peas, buttercrunch lettuce, johnny jump ups, nasturtium, collard greens, spinach and chard. I can’t wait for my tomatoes to start popping so I can start putting away some pizza sauce!
How are your gardens coming? If you would like to join my garden club we have a great time sharing each others successes and helping each other solve problems.