Garden, Part 1.

If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.
-Vincent Van Gogh

I feel like I'm so behind on garden posts! I take so many pictures - I love seeing the minute changes early followed by the crazy burst of growth that comes with the heat. The garden is becoming a living jungle. We haven't had much rain, so I am spending a bit of time out watering as well as weeding, checking, picking, and succession planting. It really is beautiful.


I love taking photos not only because it is beautiful, but also to remember next year when planning, planting, and re-thinking of what worked and what didn't. Since I expand the beds each year, and I work mostly with landscape plantings (limited "bed" space), it is important to remember where everything is to help with rotating...and realizing when things just don't do so well together, or noting areas where there is now more or less sun, and where I need to make changes.


Right now I am loving it - there is so much more being grown in our tiny yard this year. Wonderberries, ground cherries, currants, raspberries, strawberries - so much wondrous fruit. The golden raspberries are just starting to ripen - but they never make it in the house and are eaten right off the cane. The strawberries are about done and the wonderberries are just starting to turn purple.


We tied twine from stakes in the ground up through our gazebo frame to give ourselves 10' of vertical space to grow pole and runner beans - and it is working great.


I did the same with the rain barrel - planting flowers and vining flowers and beans to grow up twine staked from ground to the top. Soon the rain barrel will be a blooming masterpiece. I'm loving the beds we added this spring - nice to have some hotter/sunnier spots dedicated to beans, strawberries, peppers, flowers, tomatillos and more.


Even our front and back porches are full - in back we're growing many types of herbs in pots as well as several tomato and pepper plants. In front we have grow bags of potatoes, hanging tomato planters, pots of herbs, peppers, tomatoes, and flowers. It is all growing so beautifully!


We have been enjoying a TON of greens and spring veggies - lettuces, arugula, mustard, chives, radishes, herbs, kohlrabi and peas. As those finish off, the tomatoes and peppers are showing off their bounty to come - can't wait for those to ripen over the next month or so. We can tell we are at the cusp of the summer harvest - I'm ready with my dehydrator, canning equipment, and seeds for more!