My garden is officially in production mode. The harvest is beginning for green beans. It's also officially out of control. I know I planted a lot of stuff close together this year, but i'm a little anxious and overwhelmed at how out of hand it has gotten. Based on years past I just didn't expect my plants to do as well as they are. There just might be something to this Back to Eden/Deep mulch/No till/Ruth Stout/Lasagna Gardening method.
DS is super excited to have green beans for dinner. If you're starting out, this is a must have crop, it's so prolific, easy, early and satisfying to grow and they just produce and produce and produce as long as you keep picking.
I've got tomatoes coming out of my ears. Every one of my 13 plants is just heavy laden. I've already lost a lot to blossom end rot. We had quite a dry spell and then a TON of rain so they didn't like that.
The plants grew out of control so fast, it's just a giant mass of tomato plants. I wasn't able to prune them very effectively. I'm pretty sure I'll have disease and pest issues because they're growing so densely, there isn't a lot of airflow around the plants. They're in the sunniest spot though so that should help with excess moisture evaporation.
Corn is just starting to tassle. I really should have laid down newspaper in this bed, the weeds are pretty thick. When this crop is through and I chop down the stalks, I'm going to lay newspaper and a new layer of mulch, hopefully eradicate those deep rooted weeds. Despite my spotty planting job this year, the stalks are all very green and happy looking.
Best looking peppers I've ever grown. They are really surprising me at how lush and green and tall they are getting. I've never had such happy looking pepper plants. These I think are California Wonder and they feel very thick walled and meaty. So happy with these results.
I can taste the bacon wrapped jalapenos already. This is another super easy to grow, high yield plant for beginners.
Totally loving this white eggplant. I was reading up that this is the original color of eggplant and how it got its name. Of my three eggplant plants, this one is doing the best. I'm excited to fry these guys up.
Peppers, sunflower, cantaloupes (really taking off and flowering well) There's also watermelon, a tomato, eggplant and some mystery squashes running around in here.
Green bean patch, eggplant and cucumbers are making their way up the trellis. Males flowers are going crazy, I expect to be seeing some cucumbers growing soon as the female flowers are usually not far behind. So happy to be having cukes this year after last years pitiful disappointment. Can't see the limas on the other side but they're FULL of flowers. I think I might get a decent harvest from them this year.
Yellow crookneck. It's doing pretty good. Although this and the zucchini just really aren't fruiting well. I don't think they like the spot I put them in, not sunny enough. I might not get much out of them this year, I'm ok with that though.
See, the potato plants are just totally crowding the squash out, and this bed gets the least sun due to the maturing of the neighbor's trees. I think i might take out this bed next year and put in a new one on the other side of the tomatoes where there's lots of sun.
Lots of basil, I think it's time for some pesto! Oregano and thyme are just out of control as usual. The whole garden just is overflowing and growing like nuts. Seriously, i just can't believe how well everything is just growing. I haven't fertilized since the very begging when I put down the organic fertilizer under the mulch and the one application I did when the garden was a few weeks old.
The fig tree has never been so huge and lush. It's finally living up to its potential. I haven't spotted any baby figs yet, it might be too early, but I sure hope it makes some this year.
DD's garden, full of weeds but some things are growing. You can tell the soil is still quite depleted here by how stunted everything is compared to my garden I've babied and enriched the last few years. I'm happy that the blueberries I planted are taking well - they should be ready to produce a few berries next year. I've got to keep an eye on the soil acidity and nutritional content for them. The baby limas I put in are also doing good because they fix their own nitrogen from the air. I'm hoping that'll help out the soil. I should put a new application of chicken poo fertilizer here and cover with mulch. I think I'll do that when the plants expire. The remaining blackberry plant actually looks like it's making a come back with some new growth.
My mystery squash plant. I don't know what variety this is. I thought most pumpkins start out green but this is staying yellow from the start like a crookneck summer squash. I'm not even sure how big I should let it get before I pick it and examine it. What's interesting is this one popped up far from the worm tower and the plant itself is not gigantic but it is flowering and fruiting quite profusely. Another plant popped up right next to a worm tower and the leaves and plant itself are just enormous and growing and growing but the flowers and fruits are far and few between. So that tells me the areas near the worm towers are high in nitrogen and there's more phosphorous away from the towers. That makes sense because I don't throw many carbons into the worm towers, just lots of high nitrogen food scraps.
Happy garden. I hope it stays that way when the blazing heat pounds it and the bugs don't get too bad. I've noticed a slug and a cucumber beetle this morning, wasn't happy about that. I'm sure the good bugs will show up when they're needed, I had plenty of them last year.
