Every year around this time, I look at things starting in the garden and ask myself why everything is so slow to get going. Is this year slower than usual? Did we have less heat in the month of June? We did have more rain though. I figured I should take some photos of the different garden areas to show what they looked like at the end of June so next year I can compare.
Here is our one red currant bush in its second year. Next year it should flower and produce some berries. Behind it is our raspberry patch in its third year. These started as two single canes. These raspberries get cut to the ground each fall and don’t grow very high each year. I can already see some berries forming and they will produce until end August.
Continuing to the right we have our recents plants from this spring. Two raspberry plants that will produce twice a year; once on last year’s stocks and then again on the new canes later in August. In front of them are a sour cherry tree and a pear tree. Beside the raspberries is a second pear tree. There is a bed of four strawberry plants surrounded by wood chips with black plastic sheeting around that.
Continuing clockwise, we have two rows of second year cranberry bushes that we got from the shelterbelt program. Half of them are alive and have leafed out quite a bit this year. Next to the fence I put in a row of sunflowers that I started indoors and in the greenhouse. There are straight eight cucumbers in front of them that are just up and Holly hocks behind them, also just up. I read somewhere that the “three brothers” to plant together is sunflowers, cucumber and radishes. I still have time to toss in some radish seeds.
There is still one corner of the garden not really with anything planted except the seven asparagus ferns that came up this spring. It will still be a couple years before we can eat any.
This side of the garden seems to be doing ok. A bed of potatoes in a garden box added this spring. Behind it is the gourd plants on the left side of the trellis and radish, dill and marigolds on the right side. The gourd is finally starting to grow a vine. There are straight box on the right side is bush beans, calendula flowers and snap peas.
In front of the trellis are two tires with potatoes, one grew faster and needed the second tire already. In the middle we added a new box for flowers. I have 4 o’clock and zinnias in there.
In the middle of the garden are these three low beds with just trees for a frame. The closest one has zucchini and onions. The zucchini have been struggling this year but are flowering despite very few leaves. In the center plot are more onions, sweet and yellow, with nasturiums between the rows that are just up. I must have over 100 onions planted and up. The farther bed has carrots in it but I have had to really baby them to get them to germinate.
The last section of garden, besides the 28 Haskaps plants, are these five beds. The front left one has struggling lettuce with some zinnia plants. The bed next to it, has one pumpkin plant with marigolds planted around it. There are more zinnias beside it. We made a trellis for some more peas and planted pickling cucumbers and dill beside the peas in one box. Cosmos flowers beside the peas in the other. The larger bed, next to the Haskaps, has the “three sisters” corn, climbing beans and spaghetti squash. Hard to see but everything is up and are small seedlings.
Although it seems that everything is struggling to get going, the heat is on its way and that will help speed things along. Come the middle of August everything will be in full bloom and I can share more photos then.
There are some things that will stay in the greenhouse. I have hanging baskets and pots with tomatoes and peppers. There are a couple sweet pea flowers. My yellow pot with calendula and marigolds that I started.
As you can see, there is this small amount of cuttings that I am attempting to root on the floor of the greenhouse. I have a zucchini plant there also, keeping it more in the shade.
That’s it for the garden update. I guess every growing year is different and I just need to be patient to see the fruits of my labour.
Thanks for the tour.