Yes. It's that time. It's the middle of June and it's time for a garden walk through.
Here is the start of my garden. From right to left, I have Cranberry beans, a very rare Arapaho Fish Hill bean, three varieties of peas (Oregon Sugar Pod, Sugar Snap and Spring Blush), Egyptian Walking onions and common garden chives.
I have all 3 pea varieties producing. Usually, I would plant peas on March 1st, but I was a month late this year due to moving.
These are the Oregon Sugar Pod variety. I really like these because the peas grow in clusters. These vines don't get overly tall, either. They are easy to contain.
These are Egyptian Walking onions that are in the midst of walking. They are a wonderful vegetable for the lazy gardener. You plant them once, they require minimal care and they are self-propagating. See all those little flowers? Each one of those will turn into a cluster of bulblets. The entire onion is edible and they grow in all types of soil, even gravel. If you decide to grow these, you'll want them in their own place as they can take over a garden when they "walk".
From top to bottom: Blooming Prairie bush beans, Dragon Tongue bush beans and my solo Orchid Flame nasturtium.
The Blooming Prairie are from seeds that I saved from growing them last year. They are supposed to be a bush variety, but they acted more like a half-runner because they did climb. No matter. That's why I put them up closest to the fence so that they can grab on and climb if they are so inclined. These are a gorgeous shade of purple when they grow out.
The Dragon Tongue is a staple in my garden. We just like them.
I have a few seeds of Contender that someone sent to me that I think I will stick in the bottom with the nasturtium.
These are volunteer Jerusalem artichokes. I planted 2 tubers last year and did not harvest them. They came back this year. I will harvest this year and relocate them elsewhere.
This is the start of my little area. I like to make these. I like gardens that have these little "areas" around each corner. I have the Jerusalem artichokes, some Tall Trailing nasturtiums and rosemary with a little bird house tucked in.
From top to bottom: Flood pole beans, Borlotto di Vigevano Nano bush beans and some Ladybird Cream Purple Spot Nasturtiums. Next to the wooden planter, in the 2 square white ones, I have a mystery variety of yard long beans and some Purple Podded pole beans.
Here are 6 different varieties of tomatoes. I have heirlooms and hybrids. I'm doing a pruning and trellising experiment this year. I'd like to thank my Facebook friend, Jean, for gifting me the biggest plant on the end. We have no idea of what it is, exactly, but I'm anxious to find out! It's the tallest tomato out there on the trellis.
I bought this pair of Pink Lemonade blueberry bushes in 2013. They have always been in this tub. After this year, I'll be removing them and putting them in a bottomless raised bed. The key to successful blueberries is to not let them berry out for the first 2-3 years so that they can concentrate on establishing a root system. I've taken these guys as far as I can as far as being in a container. I have nothing bigger for them!
We planted a couple apple trees this year. We have a Fuji and a Golden Delicious. The white sleeve is to keep the Wascly Wabbit, that we see hopping around, from eating them.
This is my wooden A-frame planter. I have a Snow Princess calendula, Bright Lights cosmos and Love in a Mist planted on one side and I have two tiers of Giant Italian parsley on the other side.
My 7 year old Concord grape vines got a major haircut last winter, in anticipation of moving. The roots had pushed out through the bottoms of the pots and had went into the ground. We had to pop the roots on them. What I mean is that since the roots had grown out through the bottom of the pot and had 3 years to establish where I had them, in front of my old fifth wheel, we had to break the tap root so that we could move the pots.
Bob cut the bottoms out of the pots and we sunk them into the ground with a wire trellis. This will be their permanent home from now on. We won't get a harvest this year but they should come back with a vengeance next year because breaking off the roots rejuvenates them.
Black Beauty eggplant that I got from the Master Gardener's plant sale this year. I can't say as I'm impressed with their ability to grow starter plants. I don't think I'll utilize them again. I haven't been having very good luck with their starter plants at all.
I used to have quite the container garden of roses but I'm down to just 2 now.
I used an organic soil blend that I bought from a local company mixed with worm castings and mushroom compost. The stalks on these tomatoes, on the trellis, are amazingly healthy despite how much rain we've been getting.
This is the starter plant that I got from my friend, Jean. It's the biggest one on the trellis! It's also a mystery plant. We don't know what type it is yet. I'll call it a Wait-N-See. I take all the lower leaves off my tomatoes, about 18-24 inches up the plants. They don't need them and they are less susceptible to getting any splash up fungal infections from the soil. Almost all of my tomatoes, whether determinate or indeterminate, are grown in 5 gallon fabric grow bags.
The narrow walkway between the dog pen and our outdoor lounge room.
This is what I call the "Back Garden". It's where 99% of my containers go. I have my blueberries (well, they are actually pink), roses, peppers, eggplants, corn and the apple trees back there. I had Bob stake out some landscape fabric and that is my designated area for putting pots down.
This is my sole determinate variety of tomato. This is an Oregon Spring. It's an heirloom. A determinate tomato variety only grows so tall and it sets all of its fruit at once and it all ripens at, pretty much, the same time.
This is the "zucchini" plant that the neighbor gave to me. I'm not entirely sure that it's a zucchini because she had already given me a 4-pack of squash plants that she thought were yellow zucchini but, in all actuality, they were spaghetti squash. I tried to tell her that the tags are in those starter plants for a reason. I don't think she's very observant, but, hey, I don't mind taking and planting mistakes in my garden! This zuke isn't doing very well. I have it in a 5-gallon grow bag and I think that all this rain we've been getting is trying to do it in. Meh. If it lives, it lives. If it doesn't, I'm not heartbroken.
This is another heirloom tomato that I got from the Master Gardener's plant sale. This is a Blue Beauty. It's a variety that I've been wanting to grow out, but I don't think that the master gardeners hardened off their plants very well. It will produce, but it's not going to win any beauty contests, for sure.
This is the 3rd tomato that I bought from the Master Gardeners. This is an heirloom variety called a Paul Robeson. The only size that they had available was a "1 gallon" size and it cost me $8. Yes, I realize it is flowering. It was doing that on the day I brought it home. I pulled them all off and put it in a big pot (10 gallon, I think) and I planted it as deep as I could. It's another one of those plants that will produce but it will not win any beauty contests. This was not hardened off very well at all.
For perspective, that is the zucchini plant next to my Yukon Gold potatoes. Yukons throw out pink-purple blooms. The flowers indicate that the plant is producing potatoes.
These were supposed to be Watermelon radishes but I got them in late and they bolted on me. I'm just letting them go to seed because that bed is so incredibly full of onions that I can't really replant anything else in there. I'll leave the flowers for the pollinators and collect the seed for next year.
Here's where I seeded in some sweet basil.
This is looking at the row of beds that I have Spaghetti squash planted in. That was the neighbor mistake that I was happy to take on. in the square white pots, I have red and green yard long beans planted. Next to the beans, I have some red Kennebec and some Red-Gold potatoes growing. They, too, are starting to flower. The trellis is for the yard long beans.
Another look at that area. The plastic is so the squash stay off the gravel. I hand pollinated the two female flowers that I had on the squash.
Turning toward our trailer, there are two big pots. I seeded them both in with Chioggia beets. In one, I companion planted coneflowers (ecinachea) and in the other I companion planted dill. These are experiments. I don't know how well they will grow with each other.
Behind the Kennebec potatoes, I have beds for rhubarb (which isn't growing this year due to transplanting), 2 types of bush beans: Maxibel and Tanya's Pink Pod, and in the brown bed, I have collard greens with Peppermint Stick zinnias in the front.
This is fenugreek. I seeded it in after I had planted some Parisienne Market carrots that I thought were duds. I added a little mushroom compost and planted the fenugreek and the carrots decided to join the program, too. I'll just let them grow together.
This is a variety of lettuce that I grow just because of the name. It's called Drunk Woman Frizzy Head. It's fantastic!
I'm not really one for kale, but it is nutritionally dense, so that is why I decided to plant it. This is Lacinato aka Dinosaur kale. It's really tender as a baby green in a salad blend.
These are a French heirloom variety of carrot called Longue Rouge Sang. I ordered the seeds from Baker Creek. This is a stunner in the looks department.
In this half of the bed, I seeded in Pink Plume celery. You can order seeds for it from Fruition Seeds. It is, indeed, pink. It's not like regular celery and it has a very strong flavor.
This is just plain ol' cilantro. I don't really grow cilantro for the leaves, I grow more for the roots. Here, in the United States, we don't really utilize cilantro to its full potential as the entire plant is edible. In Asian cuisine, particularly Thai and Vietnamese, they tend to use the root of the cilantro plant. That's why I grow it.
This variety of lettuce is called Sword. I did a trade for the seeds 2 years ago but only got around to planting this year. I really like this lettuce. It has a wonderful taste, the shape is unique in a salad blend and it's pretty to look at. I'd grow this again...and I will because I still have a ton of seeds leftover.
This is bok choy (or pac choi, depending on which country you're in). This is an amazing early spring vegetable to grow. I use it in stir fries, soups, salad blends. It's super nutritious and will always make an appearance in my garden. I harvest this (and all my salad greens) using the cut and come again method.
Moving on to the next bed, I have Red Romaine lettuce, mixed bachelor buttons and Strawberry spinach planted.
I saw a starter plant for a Cucamelon and I couldn't resist. I don't have a clue of how well it will grow here, but we'll see.
Here is my bed of Tanya's Pink Pod and Maxibel bush beans. These are coming along awesome!
Thanks for taking the garden tour with me. I'll post another update the first part of July!
