Garden (and life) updates!

Hello!

Life certainly gets crazy at times.  What started as a kitchen refresh since we had to address a plumbing problem turned into a full gut downstairs remodel.  There were a couple of structural issues found that resulted in removing almost all the walls on our first floor.  I keep telling myself that it's going to be beautiful when it's done...we just have to get to 'done'.  

We ended up having to stay at our lake place for almost a month.  Normally, I have no issue with staying at the lake but when you're well over an hour from home and your home has serious issues, it's a tad stressful!  And all I could do in the garden was watch it via the cameras!

My poor gardens!  Thankfully, we did put down weed barrier fabric so the weeds are just crazy at the edges.  Although it rained for days, we have great drainage in this garden as we're on a hill causing it to dry out a bit at times.  Even so, the garden is doing amazing!  

Check out these tomatoes!  I am almost 5'6" tall, that tomato plant is about TWO FEET taller than I am!  The tomatoes this year are so big and loaded with fruit that some of them are actually bending the larger tomato cages over!  I think next year I am going to plant them right up on the fence to help support the cages that are supporting the tomatoes!  LOL

Here are a few more random pictures from the garden!

Zuchinni

Tomatoes

Sugar Baby Watermelon - the squirrel let this one get big...he better continue to leave it alone too! 

Eggplants

Corn - a new variety I'm trying, it's designed to grow shorter and can even be grown in containers on porches...or so they say!

Cabbage, I used a row cover and am pretty impressed with the results. 

Beets

Cantaloupe, or the start of one

Peppers.  My garden book got packed, I must find it to see which variety these are, I planted several!  Note, it got so big that I had to put a tomato cage on it.

Tomatoes.  Hiding in the shade.

Acorn Squash, the first time growing it.

Cantaloupe, can't wait to see these ripen!

Cucumbers!  The first time growing them on the cow panels.

Green Beans, we're about to be overrun!

Spaghetti Squash.  A great substitute for spaghetti and it gets additional vitamins and nutrients in too!

You'll notice some of the leaves aren't perfect, but what garden doesn't have a bug or two? I've also planned some things to encourage the good bugs and bees too!  I intentionally moved some oregano to the openings in the cinder blocks of my raised beds away from the other herbs, and let it go to seed for the bees.

I even planted some flowers to attract bees in little pockets in the garden where plants didn't quite fill in.

So even though it was neglected for a few weeks, the garden is still doing well.  I am experimenting with cow panel trellis, MI Gardener has a great YouTube video on making one here.  We got the panels and T posts at Tractor Supply, they were very reasonable to purchase.  We were able to put six cucumber plants in an area that is roughly 5' x 6', the area where we would have had one *maybe* two plants vining on the ground.  This year we have these trellises for the Acorn squash, Butternut squash, Spaghetti squash and cucumbers.    Here's your laugh of the day, I have another one...I planted yellow squash around it.  Yellow squash does NOT vine.  I'll call it a blonde moment.  Next year that trellis will be for the pickling cucumbers.  LOL

The Eagle scout project was great in that all the infrastructure was put into place for the handicap garden.  We found a couple of issues that we will adjust.  The raised beds weren't built deep enough so we'll take those apart and correct that.  Minor in the big picture.  

It's about time to start our second round of planting.  Once we pull the rest of the beets and carrots, we'll plant another round in those raised beds.  We have one raised bed that is currently empty and I'll be planting more salad greens in that one.

So far, we've had 2 minor and 2 larger harvests and our donation amounts are up to 164 pounds of fresh produce and herbs.  We look forward to being able to do more.  

Remember to check on your neighbors! I know it's not winter time but when it's as hot as it has been, we should still check in on them to ensure they're ok!