Just forewarning, this is a picture-heavy post. I came home from work to a nice steady rain this evening and the weather cleared with just enough time for me to run out and check on our garden boxes.
Our garden this year was 100% seedling starts. Most of the smaller plants and herbs started in a mini-greenhouse this year. This was a first for me and I’m pretty excited to see most of the lil guys hanging tough. I went a little crazy with the basil; I did this big pot for my main basil and I also did a few extras in smaller Jeni’s Ice Cream containers to give away to friends.
After saying hi to the Bossy Basil, I skipped straight to the garden boxes for a quick, bug free checkup.
Side Note: if you are frequently harassed by mosquitoes and seem to have a sweeter-than-average scent (I am and I do), then doing quick garden trips after a good rain or good sprinkler shower is my suggestion. The mosquitoes come back out pretty quickly, so you may not escape completely free. But, in my opinion, 1 bite is better than 20.
The picture above was actually from a few days ago. Someone recently got a big, red wagon and now insists on doing regular patrols around the neighborhood…just to make sure things are on the up-and-up. The garden boxes in the picture are ours from the alleyway.
Below are a couple more garden pictures from this evening, including special guest: The Tumbler a/k/a Chewy.
Shout out: “Hey Chewy!” (That’s not a brand name. I don’t know the brand name…whatever standard tumbler they sell at Lowe’s or Home Depot. I just like to give my garden friends nicknames.)
Anyway, back to reality, the first 2 images are cucumbers. I usually plant climbing veggies (like cucumbers or green beans) in the boxes that are against the fence. Chain link fence, albeit kinda ugly, is a great “natural” trellis for climbing plants. This year I am going to see if we can actually add some reinforcements to get these guys even higher. (I’ve Pinned several trellis ideas for various plants on my Gardens and Gnomes Pinterest board, but I like this one in particular for cucumbers. I give bonus points because it repurposes an old metal dog kennel…and I happen to have an old dog kennel that we would otherwise just toss out.)
Baby cucumbers!!
These guys are from Squashland. I just did a couple zucchini and neighbored a couple yellow squash as well. Look at all these blooms!
Baby Zucchini!!
As of today, we FINALLY have our first harvest: Green Beans. The late harvest is a result of a tragic accident early on in the season with our greenhouse. (Oh, I’ll post on that later.) We’ve got enough beans to sauté with dinner tomorrow and maybe some leftovers.
Ahhh, green beans.
They were a hit with Lincoln. And Trapper (Beagle #1).
Keeping My Marbles 