Backyard Garden Plot Pictures – Week 18 of 52
The backyard vegetable garden is starting to fill up with my favorite color… GREEN!
The potting bench and it’s flowers is beginning to look a little ragged these days so I’ll have to try and spruce it up this week. I transplanted mint and strawberries to the whiskey barrel a few months ago and once I remove all the spent flowers we should be able to see them.
Just a few more weeks and all the raised garden beds will be planted. I am still trying to decided what to companion plant with my tomatoes. What do YOU plant alongside your tomatoes?
All the spaces in the wood pallet garden have been planted. You can see what’s been planted HERE.
The sugar snap peas are climbing up the teepee poles. Only about 5 weeks to go until we start to harvest them.
All of the tomato plants have been moved to the greenhouse. The cucumbers have been started and I think I’ll try and get some pumpkin seeds planted in pots and store them in the greenhouse until the weather warms up.
Still no sign of life in the potato towers. We should start to see some green leaves poking through pretty soon {fingers crossed}.
A view from the deck.
The whistling gnome is keeping a good eye on the kale and fava beans. The Swiss chard I planted there a month or two ago is still struggling so I may replant it this week. We’ll see.
The pumpkin patch will be planted the first week in June.
Raspberries gone wild. I’m hoping for a bumper crop this year!
Here is the view of the raspberry patch from my kitchen window. Isn’t it lovely?
And last but not least, the container her garden {and two rhubarb plants}.
Now that the weather is starting to warm up and it’s staying light out much longer, I’m spending all my extra time out in the garden. Yes growing your own food can be a lot of work, but you know what? It’s also pretty rewarding.
Working with your hands is cool.
Get out there and do something you love!
~Mavis
This years garden is being sponsored by the awesome folks at Botanical Interests Seed Company. You can check out their website HERE, order their new 2013 Garden Seed Catalog HERE, or visit my boyfriend Ryan’s blog HERE.
Krista says
I have a question….why do you wait until June 1st to plant the pumpkins? And do you sow the seed directly or are you transplanting starts?
Mavis says
If I direct sow pumpkins I plant them on June first {too cold here to plant any earlier. I may start them in pots this year and keep them in the greenhouse to get a head start though.
Krista says
Do they typically have enough time to grow and ripen/turn orange by Halloween? It’s been so many years since I’ve tried growing pumpkins and I can’t remember when I planted mine, but I wasn’t ever very successful. I can hardly wait to see yours!
Heidi says
Hi Krista,
I live in the Pacific Northwest and a farmer grows pumpkins in our fields. He always plants them around the first of June. Pumpkins take 90-110 ish days to ripen fully. I’ve always been more concerned with them becoming over ripened by Halloween. I grow my own as well. Pumpkins are super easy to grow.
Paige says
My grandaddy always said that pumpkins had to be in the ground by July 4th…We live in Georgia and it gets pretty hot early down here.
Heidi says
I’m companion planting garlic, basil, carrots & radishes with our tomatoes this year.
Jean says
Each of my tomatoes gets a marigold and a basil plant. They’ve all done fabulously, and I’ve read the basil makes the tomatoes even tastier. I plant them pretty close together so the roots are close, and the combination makes a pretty garden plot!
sclindah says
I have planted marigolds and nasturiums beside and around my tomatoes for bug protection the past couple of years. It’s worked great!
Ellen says
I haven’t tried it yet, but supposedly “carrots love tomatoes” and are good companion plants. I think I missed the deadline for carrots this season. I will put it on my calendar for next time! Your garden looks amazing, Mavis!
Alicia says
Last year I read that basil, when planted with tomatoes makes them more flavorful, so that’s what I did. We eat a lot of basil anyway so I put three basil plants around the base of each tomato. The purple basil looked especially pretty and it was all so yummy!
Evelyn says
Borage and french Marigolds interplanted with our tomatoes.
Susan Reid says
I also plant basil ( specifically Greek basil) with tomatos. The bees go nuts for it, and it helps with pollination.
carol says
I’ve learned that tomatoes like to be planted with onions, marigolds, asparagus, carrots, parsley, and cucumbers. Seems a little far-fetched to plant them with asparagus, though. Tomatoes don’t thrive well with cabbage family plants, fennel and potatoes. I like the ideas above for planting them with basil. That’s what I’m going to try this year.
P.S. Each of my tomatoes gets a crushed egg shell at the bottom of the transplanting hole–cheap source of calcium to head off blossom end rot.
Wynne says
I interplant the tomatoes with marigolds, but reading the comments, I think I’ll also add basil. And probably the eggshell trick.