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Garden Pics Summer 2006

This year we are doing the Square Foot Garden concept again in a bigger way thanks to the hard work of my husband and son. Mel would not approve of the lack of "squares", though. My intention was to use them, but  never got around to it. So technically, this is not a "square foot" garden, but a raised bed garden.

We are going to be trellising the watermelons, cantaloupes, and cucumbers soon. I will add pics of that once I get them.

Some of the herbs are from last year's herb garden (see below) - survivors are rosemary, oregano, chives, Italian parsley, common thyme, lemon thyme, and sage.

Here's the whole garden in morning light:

My wonderful husband and son built some boxes to go around the edges inside the fence and took the three boxes from last year and pushed them together in the center. The space is much more efficiently used now. We put down weed fabric before the boxes were moved or constructed because our Bermuda grass lawn is trying to encroach upon the spot (it's evil, I tell ya!). The weed fabric around the outside will eventually be covered with flowers and mulch if I ever get to it.


When you first walk into the garden, this is on your right. This box has watermelons (near left), cantaloupes (middle), and cucumbers (far right). We'll be putting up a sturdy trellis soon.


The box in the last photo (left) is on the right in this pic. The watermelons are the shorter plants in it. Then to their left you see the beans. In the foreground, box are herbs (chives, rosemary, other things - the monstrous plant is cilantro desperately bolting into flower.


To the left of the watermelons are the beans. These are bush beans. To the left of them are peas.


 


 

This is a pic of the peas. They're being allowed to climb the fence. The box in the background is empty. I'm planning to put radishes in the sunnier part and lettuces in the shadier part.

Isn't it neat how those little tendrils grip the fence?


You can see the peas in the background here. The zucchini is on the left. It's taking over one whole box to itself. The smaller plants are herbs. There are thyme, sage, bee balm, lavender, peppermint (potted to keep it contained), dill, oregano, parsley (hiding behind the sage), and basil. I severely cut back 2 of my basil plants for making pesto.

 

Here are the dill (left) and basil. This basil plant is getting huge and needs trimming back. The zucchini is trying to impinge on the herbs. It really likes to stretch out.


Here's a view of the zucchini box. It really needs all the room I can give it. I think I have 5 zucchini plants in there.

Lovely in the morning sunshine...


The plants I'm focusing on here are the peppers. We're growing banana (hot and sweet varieties), bell, jalapeno, Mexi-bell and I'm not sure what else. These were almost goners a couple of weeks before this, but I (shhhhhh) used Miracle Gro out of desperation. It worked. They're happy as can be now. We've harvested a couple of peppers as of late June. You have to understand that these plants were babied for weeks while they languished near death (maybe because they were babied?). I'm just real happy with how far they've come in the last 2 weeks on Miracle Gro.

The miracle of Miracle Gro...


Finally, the tomatoes. We're growing Celebrity, Big Boy (or is it Better Boy?), Roma, and Brandywine (heirloom). They're in need of trellising at this point.

A close-up...

 

Garden Pics Spring 2005

The Herb Garden 2005
I created an herb garden using 2 nice cedar boxes from Lowe's.



Cedar box #1 contains (left to right) Spicy Globe Basil, Lemon Thyme, Fernleaf Dill, Italian Parsley, and Greek Oregano



Spicy Globe Basil and Lemon Thyme



Fernleaf Dill, Italian Parsley, and Greek Oregano



Cedar box #2 contains (left to right) Common Sage, Common Thyme, Rosemary, Chives, and Sweet Basil



The Vegetable Garden (as of June 2005)
We're doing Square-Foot gardening this year. We've started with 3 - 4' X 4' bottomless boxes. We filled them each with  a mix consisting of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 coarse vermiculite, and 1/3 compost per Mel Bartholomew's instructions.

Raised bed #1 contains Sweet Corn, and a variety of peppers (Tabasco, Habanero, Red Bell, Green Bell, Red Hot Cherry). Also, there is cilantro coming up in one area and I decided to plant one zucchini plant in 2 separate corners so it would crawl around under the corn. 

(6-24-05) 

  
   







(6-9-05)


Raised bed #2 contains tomatoes, beans, and zinnias

(6-24-05)

   

(6-9-05)

Raised bed #3 contains tomatoes, radishes, carrots, lettuces, and zinnias. 

(6-24-05)
  

(6-9-05)

All 3 boxes in a row (6-24-05)

Yard Pics Spring 2005

Hydrangea macrophylla "Nikko Blue"

Barrel of Petunias

 

Yard Pics Spring 2004
Some of the things you'll find in my back yard....

Strawberry plants, Mexican Evening Primroses, etc. ready to plant


Hosta (can't remember which kind)


Part of the thornless blackberry row


Deck - 1st level


Deck - 4th level


Sweet Gum tree I pulled from a flower bed in another part of the yard and transplanted last year. A messy, but lovely tree when it gets bigger. I have a very large SG tree in my front yard that was this size when I planted it. In 5+ years it's grown to reach above the roof of the house!


Our valiant watch doggies. Boo-Boo, left, (passed away in 2006 at age 17&1/2). Scotty, right, (passed away in 2009 at age 17).


Fourth of July climbing rose (lovely scent!)


Iris reticulata Bought a clump of these at a yard sale years ago. Now I have a lot of clumps!


Rest of the blackberry row


Deck - 3rd level


View from top of deck


Bleeding Heart (after blooming) near lowest level of the deck


Can you see one of our daily visitors in this pic? I surprised him while walking past one of our bird feeders. He was not very afraid of me. 

 


Deck pic - 2nd level


Close-up of iris


Close-up of blackberries before flowering - a friend gave these to me several years ago. Very easy to grow.


Looking onto deck level 3


View from top of deck


Hydrangea paniculata 'Grandiflora' before blooming


Where our visitor should be eating.