It has been the goofiest couple weeks with rain patterns since my last garden post where a very long dry spell was just letting up! If you are gardening too, make sure to hit https://hive.blog/hive-140635/@gardenhive/are-you-ready-for-the-hive-garden-august-challenge with your entry as there is a fantastic rewarding gardening community here!
For those of you just starting to follow along...a few years ago, I began reclaiming lawn space building raised boxes, and blogging about my adventures in gardening. This might be year 7 of the ever-growing garden that officially launches May 2-4 Weekend every year. The community that @GardenHive has become is for us green thumbs and there are contests my gardening friends can play along with by following them.
3 full weeks of no rain was where we left off and it has been nothing but intermittent heavy rain since. Here we go!
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I managed to snap a pic of the wide angle between rain storms when the sky was blue. There has been plenty of sunshine as well and you can see evidence of both in the green coming from everywhere. I have rebuilt the dog barriers which coincidentally discourages weeding as well so there is definitely pruning and weeding to do. Let's have a closer look
Water
For most of the last 2 weeks, I have a couple of inches of water for the lawn to swim in. It will dry up a touch, not enough to mow, and then another storm blows through and fills it right back up again. Wading through the still water grass swamp to mosquitoville to tend to waterlogged garden boxes has been a bit of a bummer but things must grow.
Flowers
You know what loves water? Hydrangeas. Makes sense when you look at their name. Huge balls of flowers have been exploding from the plants that the pollinators enjoy. Then, the sky opens up and rains those puffy spheres right to the ground. The bounce right back up and pose for the camera with their little friend.
I have some new annuals finally throwing up blooms including what I think are Dhalias. I say think because it was my daughter who picked this one out a month and a half ago and this is the first flower. She had forgotten what it was and my wife almost cut it down because it was looking like a flowerless weed. A good dozen fist-sized flowers are making this a nice mid-season surprise.
These daisies spent a little too much time in planters but are looking to bounce back nicely. Something pure about daisies for me as I remember them growing wild all over up north. Hopefully they will bounce back big in the next couple weeks.
It is also time for these to have their day in the sun. I am not sure if these are coneflowers, Echinacea, or if that is the same thing. They were planted over 15 years ago by the previous house owner and all I know is I Really enjoy them.
Veggies!
I couldn't have you believe that the veggies were a failure this year. Quite the contrary as we are swimming in English cucumbers and yellow Italian squash (aka zucchini.)
We like to pick the first few a bit smaller so they don't get seedy and it could inspire more veggie growth for the plants. Now, I am puling off one of each every day or 2 and the salads are starting to freshen up around here.
The tomatoes are doing very well in their home where the peppers have traditionally grown. I planted them a little too densely and let them grow a little too wild last year which caused problems with the fruit. This year, I am mercilessly knocking off not just the suckers between the branches, but the lower branches themselves. Everything below the lowest tomato is the plan so that the resources go into the fruit, and there is good airflow at the bottom of the bed.
The peppers, both sweet and hot varieties, are in varying states of progress. A few plants were trampled by a fence jumping moron of a k9, others are battling the soggy conditions, and others are doing just fine. It is a little later this year but we are starting to get our first jalapenos and I am hoping for some habaneros soon to follow.
The raspberries are starting to produce a bumper crop too. every day I happily harvest a half pint and deliver them to the ladies for snacks and desserts.
Work to Do
It seems my garden time has been reduced by the elements and everything is either struggling a little, or going nuts. The vines are even growing up into my shed for a little indoor decoration. I am hoping for a slightly drier period so that I can finally tend to the lawn, and the soil dries up so that the plants start going into produce mode. Still half the season to go so I should have updates with even more variety in coming weeks. Perhaps the best is yet to come and pickles may be in our near future!
Mom started me along my path of growing stuff when I was a kid. Motivated by so many blockchain blogging gardeners, I figured I would plant and share and learn as I reclaim as much grass space as I can. It has turned out to be a fruitful experience and I hope to inspire others to sow and grow no matter what your location or experience level is.
Just make sure you tag #creativegarden and check out the latest @gardenhive post to see if you can get in on the contest.
Wherever you are...JUST GROW!
I am honoured to curate for:
Good luck with the gardening, my friend. The vegetables look great. I'm sure the tomatoes will ripen soon, especially the tomatoes. Peppers and raspberries look ripe too. Bon appetit :)
Luck is all I have! I love how proud the family is for the food we grow. Soon, I will have too much and share with others.
I wish I could transfer veggies across the blockchain as easy as I can send $hive!
Haha maybe technology improves that much in 10 years 😂😂
Your garden is looking amazing. I am super jealous. Can't wait for us to put one out next year now. I think we might get a head start and try to grow one in our basement early.
Some things start out well indoors but that is a lesson to learn too.
What I might do to start now is scoop up the clearance sales at the nursery and grow a couple things in pots. Easy.
I think we are actually going to try and grow from seeds.
It is very interesting to receive guidance on gardening through hive, which is a very important environment in each place or house. In my case, the garden is my favorite place to do yoga. Good luck and thanks for your visits dear @zekepickleman
Gardens are some of the best places to be present and mindful too!
This looks like a perfectly put together bouquet, they look so beautiful.
I really should prune some of these into bouquets shouldn’t I?
I have to be careful about leaning too much into my gardening and photography or people won’t believe I am also a rockstar and tournament fighter! ;)
You should, they would look absolutely stunning.
I believe you, you rock dear friend!😃
I actually have a feeling that it may take time for the water to dry up because water gets dried very slow on the grass
Probably true. Good thing is I can head out for the long weekend and not worry about watering like I had to a few weeks ago.
My goodness this is no mess, it's quite lovely! Even the decorations in the shed.
Yes, that is a dahlia. I'm jealous. Mine has one single blossom, and no more in sight.
I'm up to my eyeballs in cucumbers. Every other day I go out and pick a whole basket of them. I've pickled a LOT. I've eaten a LOT. I wish they would stop producing so I could rip up the plants and take picking and pickling cukes off of my daily to-do list. But no real complaints, other than Japanese beetles, which are destroying a couple of things.
This is a mess:
Dreams.
Taking care of plants and flowers is not easy, they have to be watered on time and many things have to be taken care of.
Hey Zeke, looks like things are doing well despite the water. I imagine the cucumbers and zucchini love it. And raspberries are always a favourite of mine. Thanks for sharing the delight of your vegetable garden!
Can I ask you not to use the #creativegarden tag unless you're submitting a post for the Creative Garden challenge, according to a prompt? For this challenge, you need #gardenjournal as your first tag. I know it can be confusing sometimes, but it does make my life easier if you use them properly. Much love!
Hi, your garden looks very beautiful and lucky you have your fresh vegetables from the garden. Here the rain and wind make a lot of mess. I have to read posts about other gardener's gardens. And enjoy with those. thanks for sharing. greetings from Norway 🙏