Hello Friday… You look beautiful!
I just love a white picket fence… Don’t you? I’m really excited to see how tall the sunflowers get this year. I planted the mammoth sunflower seeds so I’m hoping they are in the 8′ – 10′ range. The tall the better if you ask me.
Round 1 of the green beans are looking good…
Our first baby bean!!
And the pumpkin patch is starting to fill out. It rained pretty good here twice this week so everything in the garden is growing like mad.
Here’s the latest aerial photo of our garden plot the HH took with his drone. It feels like we put in all those brick borders years ago… but they were only installed a few months ago. Because of the four very distinct seasons, things move quick here in New England… and I like that.
{I think} we have 6 broccoli plants, and two of them are about the size of a fist so far.
And the raspberries are right on schedule.
Getting close.
Companion planting, at it’s finest. From left to right: Cucumbers, beets, cilantro, lettuce, basil and tomatoes. I like to pack everything in for two reasons: #1 Because the back of the seed packets lie…. You can plant things MUCH MUCH closer than they tell you to do. And #2 It cuts down on weeds. 🙂
Round 1 of our beets are currently the size of a nickle. I’m planning on putting up a few jars of pickled beets with the first batch once they get a little bigger. The second and third batch of beets I planted should be ready in late fall and we’ll roast those when we get some cooler temps.
The tomatoes are coming along… My neighbor has a few of his plants growing in a greenhouse and they are about DOUBLE the size of mine. I’ll have to go over there and take some pictures for you… It’s always interesting to see how vegetable gardens do from yard to yard.
And check it out… Our first zucchini! This is the costata romanesco variety from Botanical Interests.
Also, the strawberries {and their runners} have gone mad. Poor Lucy though, she hasn’t been able to eat a single berry this year because the chipmunks keep beating her to them. 🙁 Poor, poor little puggle.
And last but not least, our current forecast. Yikes!
Luckily though it’s a little cooler here than our last house {by about 7 degrees everyday} and the bugs are around 98% less PLUS, as an added bonus, I don’t have to wear a puffy coat to garden anymore}. 🙂 Summer, it’s here and in full swing. Life is good.
Have a GLORIOUS day everyone,
Keep Calm and Garden On.
~Mavis
Lisa Millar says
All looking so fabulous!! And so neat and orderly!!! (My garden is an out of control riot haha)
I also plant things much closer together than the packets say. 🙂
Your berries are looking great! Bet you can’t wait!!
I’m keeping a few things alive over winter – the garlic is looking splendid so far…
The drone photos are heaps of fun! I’ll have to put that on my list of ‘things I think I would like to have too’ !!
Enjoy the season! (I am snugged up by the fire)
Mel says
Our lettuce has been done for a while, and I harvested all our garlic a few weeks ago. It’s been curing in the basement, so I need to go trim it and move it to a bowl in the kitchen.
We finally have enough basil for pesto (our potted ones have done much better than our in-ground ones this year), and we’ve picked maybe 10 total cherry tomatoes from 5 different varieties, but it’s still about a week before our earliest variety was supposed to ripen, so I imagine things will pick up in the next week or two. I’m really looking forward to BLTs and bruschetta as regular dinner options. Our first cucumber is forming (I planted 40 seeds and only got 3 vines, so it’s been slow going on that). We were picking a pound of green beans a day, but they’ve slowed down to maybe 12 oz every two days lately. I’ve never grown pole beans before, so I don’t know if they will pick up again or if the 96 degree days got to them.
We have tons of green peppers forming (with one or two turning color), and dozens of purple jalapenos ready to pick. Our new refrigerator is finally operational, so I spent about half of yesterday reorganizing our freezers to make room for freezing tomatoes and peppers.
I need to order more garden tape to keep our 7-foot tall tomato vines on their trellis, and it’s probably about time to order seeds and stuff to get Fall veggies started under grow lights.
Marlene Wurtzbacher says
You certainly have a green thumb Mavis! Your garden arrangement is beautiful and has a Williamsburg flare. Here in Vermont, growing is slow. I think that the ocean air is a benefit.
By the way, how is your tall ship rug coming? Would love to see a picture of it. It is a hot time of year to be rug hooking.
Mavis Butterfield says
I have put the tall ship rug aside until it cools down around here. My attention span is pretty short during the summer months.
Mrs.C. says
We are in week four of weather in the high 80s, and 90s, and no rain. NO RAIN. next week? High 90s. No rain predicted. Miserable.
Mavis Butterfield says
Boooooo!
Deborah says
My blackberries are producing. The fig tree is loaded with small green figs. Plums are gone. The raccoons got them. The peaches fizzled out. Still waiting for pears to ripen. Last year, some one of some thing got every last one. None were even on the ground. We put up a game camera to see what or who gets them this year. We need to put up some ,ind of barrier to keep critters out of the yard. But what, I don’t know.
Rita says
Your garden and yard look amazing. You definitely have a green thumb! Love how your raised bed brick garden forms a cross. Would love to see what your compost system looks like.
Mavis Butterfield says
It’s basically a lasagna garden system along the back fence. Toss and go. 🙂 I like to keep things simple.
Jane says
I guess tomatoes ripen at 82 degrees? Our weather is in 90s with little rain. it’s hot. Heat index has been up to 100. but pretty good for tomatoes
Rebecca Anne says
Thank you for sharing your lovely pictures of your garden with us. It looks beautiful and all the hard work you guys have put into it is paying off. I love the neat and tidy look you’ve achieved. The zucchini looks super fun! Thanks for sharing an update with us!
As for us in Alabama, the heat index today was 98, (yesterday was 96) and it’s been pretty miserable, honestly. You’re soaked through in just a bit because of the humidity. I have to force myself to work outside because of the heat. The kids are looking forward to school starting back (homeschool) so we don’t keep having so much to do. Today was apple picking day on our land. My one son made “apple pickers” out of jugs, tape, & broom handles and they worked great!! We got 146 apples, so the crockpots are full with half the bounty for Apple Butter! And…we are installing a few railroad ties (super heavy!) for a retaining wall tonight. Good times!
Where do you get all your energy!? I crashed on the couch for a 2 hour nap. The heat just zaps the energy right out of a body!
Thanks again for the update!
Jude DeWitt says
I harvested a second summer squash today. (I’ve never grown them before.) Several more are as big as your little finger. I also harvested my peas and took down the vines. Lo and behold, I had a nursery full of little maple trees under there! Who knew?
Dianna says
How do you get your hanging basket of petunias to grow so rounded and full? Mine are so stringy. I have deadheaded, clipped back, and even tried to plant more petunias on top. They still get long and straggly.
I’m in zone 7a and we’re enjoying lots of tomatoes, summer squash, and finishing up the snow peas. My zucchini plants are HUGE but not producing well because they’re kind of blocked out by a tomato plant, so I planted a couple new zucchinis a few days ago. Fingers crossed. My kids love zucchini muffins. Also started some pumpkin seeds last week that have already grown enough to be planted out.