Back to Eden Gardening Thread~Note: pic heavy thread.

[Beekissed]

Got my seed taters today...will cut them and let them cure out tomorrow, with hopes of getting them planted this Friday.

Got to build a hay bale raised bed first so I can use it as one large container planting. Will also plant in the compost rings around the saplings again this year, but this next fall I'll remove those rings and place them beside the saplings instead of around them. A wise lady told me that keeping them around the saplings could cause the saplings to experience some problems and even death.

 

[Beekissed]

Great little vid!

 

[baymule]

We don’t have worms either.

 

[Beekissed]

Took progress pics of the garden last evening...things seem to be growing well, though this sudden higher heat sent all my romaine into a bolt so quickly I couldn't pick them all and use them. Story of my life.

The pink honeysuckle over the gate seems to have recovered from all the aphid damage of earlier in the spring~I had cut all the damaged parts off that I could reach. Getting a handful or two of raspberries each day but still can't keep up with how quickly they ripen...the bugs are getting some of them. JBs, mostly. The pumpkins are taking over the garden, as per usual...only planted two of them but they have been loving all the rain and heat, so are growing like Audrey 2 out there.

The vine on the arch is butternut squash and a Brandywine tomato on the left, a cherry mato and two cukes on the right. Pumpkins in the foreground.


Sweet, sweet raspberries, thanks to a friend from up north!


Sweetums...could watch this kitten for hours! He's so very funny in his playing with Flash and by himself.

This is what grew from planting the stump of a store bought onion...weird, huh?

My bee balm bloomed! Isn't she lovely? Haven't seen a bee one on it.

Have to keep pulling these pumpkin vines out of the taters, off the fence, off the mato trellises, etc. You name it, it's invading it.

Shouldn't have planted these yellow squash so close to the peppers...they are crowding them for sunlight. I have four yellow squash growing this year, but these planted in the landscaping fabric are the most huge and healthy of them all. As you can see, I have healthy peppers getting bigger and bigger. Still pinching off the bloom so as to encourage more energy to the roots, but they are getting so much bloom that I'm finding it a little daunting to keep up. I'm going to stop removing those now that the plants are good and established and just let them do their thing.

Flash, the garden cat...he still loves sleeping in the garden, which I love about him. Now he's getting Sweetums into the garden, so maybe I'll get another garden lovin' cat.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Great pictures, @Beekissed ! Your garden really took off this year. And your cats are sweet!

 

[baymule]

Your garden is beautiful, love the kitties. I have a son in law that is deathly allergic to cats, plus two dogs that kill them, so no kitties for me.

 

[sumi]

Your garden looks amazing!

 

[framing fowl]

That pumpkin plant is going wild! Mmmm.... Bee balm! I bet the bees will find it soon. I need to plant some.

 

[Beekissed]

My sugar snaps are done for the season...I may plant some more in August to see if I can get some into fall.

Getting cukes now every day...Mom can't keep up with eating them all, so we generally give those away to family and such. Wish I still liked them, but for some reason I can't even bear the smell of cucumber anymore...especially in lotions and soaps. Makes me sick to my stomach.

I've never seen a butternut squash like the one planted in that hay bale....it has as many runners outward and over the arch as those pumpkins. Sadly, many of the tiny squash have had blossom end rot due to all the heavy rains, but we are getting a week of no rain this week, so any new little squash should survive.

Beans are really blooming and starting to produce...I hope to keep on top of keeping them picked so I can keep them producing until it's time to do a canning up. For now we've picked and snapped a quart or so...Mom ate half a qt. on her own, couldn't get over the good flavor, so at least she's happy with the beans this year.

Plenty of squash coming on too...will be giving it away as much as possible too. I want to keep them picked so as to prolong production there too.

I have WAY less JBs this year without having the traps out and planting sacrificial Fortex beans on the perimeter of the garden. Those beans are lopping over the fence where the chickens can pick off beetles, which is a win/win...funny to watch them jumping up in the air to reach those bugs.

My hay is seriously thin right now and will not be able to hold moisture with this coming week of hot weather. I need to go get a round bale of just plain ol' good hay if I'm going to keep this garden thriving...no mulch hay being sold right now.

 

[Beekissed]

Got it done with 12 bales left over and about 25 still under the carport, so I'm set for this year, I think. Since the bales in the garden got wet, they are MUCH heavier than when dry....didn't do my back any favors there. I tried using our dolly but that just didn't work out, so had to walk each forkful of hay to wherever it needed to be in the garden. Took me longer than I expected doing it that way.

The garden before the hay was reapplied....covering very thin and hay growing up in places where it was thinnest.


This is where I threw the hay over the fence...a big ol' jumbled pile of hay bales. That's what happens when you plant veggies in front of your drive in gates, like some kind of idiot.


Now....pics of the garden after I applied about an 8-10 in. layer of hay throughout and stacked the left over bales that weighed a full metric ton each due to being wet.