July garden pictures

Miniature hollyhock in front of daisies.

Being ready to deliver a baby at any minute has limited my energy and ambition for tending the garden. And since we've had no rain for two weeks—and little before that—most of my outdoor time has been spent watering, trying to prevent my plants from dying in the blistering heat. Therefore, the veggie garden (and every other bed) is being invaded by weeds, and though Hubby got me a huge pile of mulch over a week ago, I have not been able to spread it. Luckily, one of my garden buddies came over to help on Saturday and together we weeded and mulched a couple of sections, though to my eye, I still see the weeds before the flowers.

But what more can I do—I can hardly bend over!?

Brief update on veggies:
**Harvested my beets yesterday and roasted them for a beet, goat cheese, and arugula salad today for lunch. Yummy!
**The carrots are ready to go, but they are stuck hard in the ground. I can't pull them out without a shovel. Cavan loves eating them right out of the ground, washed by the hose, of course.
**The brussel sprouts have little sprout buds beginning. Hubby is very excited.
**Our broccoli plants each have excellent heads growing.
**The cucumbers are producing like crazy. We've eaten seven giant cucs this week and there are a ton more growing by the second.
**Picked our first cherry tomatoes today. Our tomato plants in general have TONS of green fruit. We are going to gorge in the matter of weeks.
**Only one pepper on the three pepper plants. Hmmm. Hoping for at least three per plant, so the plants pay for themselves!
**Two nice sized eggplants growing on the three plants. Again, hoping for more fruit to develop.
**Only seven of the 18 corn plants grew from seed. But those seven are doing great.
**We have our first zucchini to be ready in a couple days. Tons more flowers on the three plants, as well as our three yellow squash.
**The strawberries got destroyed by chipmunks, but came back none the less. No fruit this year, but that is to be expected for the first year.
**The peas are still producing, though the plants are turning yellow and dying in the heat. I'm surprised they lasted this long, as they don't like hot weather. Will plant at least two full rows of peas next year!

Cosmos. Just threw down a packet of seeds! Love them!

Flower update:
**My cosmos and zinnias are blooming profusely. LOVING both of these annuals that I grew easily from seeds. The zinnias I bought are neon pink and purple with three-inch flower heads. Awesome!
**The roses are slowly coming back from the deer buffet. Still not many blooms, but at least there are buds. Praying the deer stay away (but that is another post all together).
**Planted a new border of hostas, heuchera, lilies, rhodedendron, zebra grass, veronica, and phlox. The baby plants are not enjoying this hot, dry streak. I'm trying to water every other day. Hopefully they'll survive.
**My monarda (bee balm) bloomed, but the stalks completely flopped over and are laying on the ground.
**My four o'clock annuals are now blooming! Beautiful yellow flowers with pink streaks.
**All of my hydrangeas (except one) are blooming and doing great. I have a white/peach variety, a purple variety, and a blue variety.
**The lilies—all eaten by deer. Damn deer.
**The deer ate several of my cone flowers, but a few survived and are blooming. Can't wait till next year when they double in size.
**Crazy daisies! Fantastic!

All in all, despite my inattention over the last few weeks and the constant deer damage, the garden looks pretty darn good. Lots of color right now, even without the lilies and roses. 

Broccoli heads.

Second garden bed: brussel sprouts, cucumbers, broccoli,
peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes.

Red cabbage in foreground. Carrots in background.

Endless summer hydrangea. This pic is a couple weeks old;
it is covered in flowers now.

Aster.

Lysimachia. They are no longer in bloom
but made June very colorful.

Long overdue update: Part 1—Veggie Garden

Cavan admiring the biggest radish
plucked from the garden.

Peas—I didn't stake them this year and most of them
have flopped over. Now I know for next time.

Here's what's up in the veggie garden.


**Peas—We've plucked eight DELICIOUS pods off the sugar snap pea plants. They are still flowering so I hope we'll get a yield that could at least fill a stir-fry rather than just an outdoor snack. I have nine plants, but it is late in the season, so keeping my fingers crossed.

**Strawberries—Almost all the plants produced pea-sized fruits last week. The were red and super sweet, but were so small they didn't even look like strawberries. As the plants mature I'm sure the fruits will be bigger and actually resemble berries. Cavan had a blast picking them though.

Brussell sprouts—Notice all the holes from the cabbage worms.

**Radishes—All have been harvested. We had some giant cherry bombs and some the size of blueberries. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for the size difference, but since Hubby is the only one that likes radishes in the family, I was not concerned. Again, Cavan loved pulling them out of the ground and we played the game "big or dud?"

**Tomatoes—Most of the plants are flowering, but we've had a week of cool weather, so I doubt any of the buds will set fruit.

**Eggplants and peppers—These also started flowering this week. Eggplant flowers are a beautiful purple. This isn't so unexpected considering the color of actual eggplants, but I was still surprised having never seen one.

**Carrots and beets—I thinned the carrots for the final time this week. The plants I pulled showed thin, spindly carrot roots. Speaking of purple, I forgot that I bought purple carrots, and the baby roots I plucked were indeed purple. Exciting. The beets. These seem to be growing much slower than the seed package said. I plucked one to see the progress and there was not even the beginning of a root bulge. They probably won't be ready for a month??!!

Garden bed #2—Left to right: Tomatoes, eggplant and peppers,
broccoli, Brussell sprouts, and the small things in the back right
are cucumbers and beans.

**Broccoli, cabbage, and Brussell sprouts—Attacked by cabbage worms!   I noticed the chewed leaves a week or so ago but couldn't see any signs of the pests responsible. Finally, I found a bunch of worms and squished them, but I also sprayed these plants with Sevin, a vegetable and flower pesticide. I have avoided spraying any of the edibles, but it couldn't be helped with these, if I want the plants to actually survive.

**Zucchini, squash, pumpkin, and corn—All of the gourds have sprouted and are growing successfully. The four rows of corn I planted have only revealed a couple of seedlings so far. I used seeds from last year...I hope they were still able to germinate.

**Cucumbers and beans—Growing but nothing of interest to report.

Cavan modeling a radish mustache.

**Herbs—The cilantro, chives, basil and dill seeds I sowed directly in the garden are all growing but really slowly, especially the basil. The parsley seeds sprouted but don't appear to be progressing. The mint, basil, and lemon balm I bought as starter plants all look good, but the recent cool weather is not accelerating their growth either. 

**Other—I still have some space in the beds, so what to plant? A couple more beans, another row of carrots, and some scallions and okra. Just got to get around to it!

Disappointments today.

One of last year's groundhogs.

Unlike yesterday, which was an enjoyable and productive day in the garden (more on this below), today has been disappointing for a few reasons.

1) Some critter, likely a groundhog, has eaten more than half of my yet-to-bloom tulip buds. I have a few choice expletives for this critter. Out comes the Havaheart trap. The bloody bastard better be caught tomorrow, though I don't know if I really want to have much of a heart when it is caught. We caught five groundhogs on the property last spring (and Hubby drove them to the nature preserve 10 miles away) and afterward had no problems. But, other than the tulips, which are short-lived anyway, I fear for our new veggie garden. We'll have to put a fence around it. Goodie, another chore to add to the list.

2) Speaking of the veggie garden, my goal this week was to plant all the cold-weather crops. But our top soil was delivered in the rain and turned into clumps. And those clumps have dried into little balls of gravel consistency. I bought one of those rolling, spiked garden cultivators (similar to the Garden Weasel) and that helped, but at 25 weeks prego, I tire easily. Working that tiller was another unpleasant task today, and despite all my elbow grease, the soil was still like little pebbles. I planted rows of carrots, radishes, and beets and covered them with a layer of peat moss before the final layer of pebbly soil. Hopefully when it rains again, the soil with break up and soak down to the seeds appropriately.

3) And what's with this freakin' freezing weather? It was 35 degrees this morning. I was working outdoors with long underwear under my clothing plus my winter coat. I hate the cold. It's the end of April for godsakes—how about some consistent sun and 60+ degrees! What a waste of spring break, to deal with winter weather.

But enough complaining. Here's what I did yesterday: planted a flat of marigolds (bought, not grown), five achillea bare roots, four blue forget-me-not plants, and 12 carnations. I also bought two flats of impatiens to plant in giant pots this weekend. But before I do that, I have to get Styrofoam blocks to fill the bottom of the pots—I don't want to fill giant 14" pots top-to-bottom with soil when impatiens really only need a few inches. For one, garden soil is expensive and I would need almost a whole bag to fill each of the seven pots. Secondly, the pots would then be 60 pounds each! I would like to be able to move them if necessary.

So after these two afternoons outside, I am exhausted! Bending over with this belly is becoming more than uncomfortable. Whew. Hubby is going to have to help me with the heavy-duty garden tasks, like ridding my partial-shade garden of grass. But that is definitely another day.