When I firstgave you a peek at my garden in May , thing were look a small sparse … I had justdrawn up a program for the next time of year , pulled out most of my winter and spring crops , and wrick over the soil with saucily made compost . My onions and Allium sativum were still a brace workweek away from harvest home . My summer crops had been started in pots and were waiting to be transplant . June was a busy month of digging , mulching , and building new trellis . After bestow more ( and more ) tasks to my fiancé ’s ever - growing “ beloved do ” list , I thought we ’d never get anything in the ground in time for summer .
And now … It ’s amazing what can happen in just two months !
Welcome to the wild forest also known as my food garden !
This is a shot looking down at the main veg plot . In the foreground are five Italian pepper plant life — I ’ve get five more behind those , out of frame , and another two in the raised layer below .
In the middle is a box of summer salad greens — Red Leaf amaranth , mizuna , Perpetual Spinach chard , and a couple of Asiatic mustard viridity just commence .
The billowing plant in the upper right corner is Victoria rhubarb , and to the left wing of that is a bottom consecrate toPatisson Strie Melange squelch . I had six plants growing in that bed until one died a couple week ago … probably for the estimable , as the vines are so robust right now , I do n’t think there would ’ve been room for that sixth one !
A close - up of my largest plant life , which I ’ve nicknamed the “ Overachiever . ” This guy sprung up twenty-four hour period before all the other seed and was three times the sizing of its fellow squash seedling by the time I put it in the ground . It grew so gravid in the first few weeks that its stem had break open open under the weightiness and size of it of its leafage . I had to stake it down to keep the fledgling from flopping in the breeze , potentially snapping its theme exclusively .
Needless to say , the split did n’t slow down its emergence at all and its vines are startle to sprawl over to the next seam . I see alotof squash in my very near future !
A side horizon of the main veggie plot . In front are two seam and two black buckets of tomato plant ( 14 plants in all ) , staked using the Florida Weave method .
MyBlack Cherry tomatoes . I have seven varieties of tomato growing , but these have grown the quickest and seem to be the most productive so far .
The young cucumber trellis , withPoona Kheera , Chinese Yellow , andJapanese Summer Topvarieties climb up our repurposed , vintage molded - iron gates .
Lines of cotton twine run for from the top of the gate to the top of the whole frame , which is made of aluminum pipe . It ’s a permanent treillage that will have cucumbers , beans , peas and other climb industrial plant rotating through it each year .
The first Poona Kheera cucumber amount out . So cute !
Our other trellis , which has a pocket-size row ofChinese Red Noodle beansvigorously climbing up the odd side . The seedlings had a shaky start and the leave-taking were yellowing to the point where I think they would n’t make it ; but they add up back and most of them are bring out healthy green leaves with vine that seem to race up the twine a few more inch each day .
The trellis maxes out at six metrical foot and one of the vines has topped this and then some — I let it climb horizontally along the top bar . Still no blooms though , even though my other attic plants to the right — Dragon Tongue bush beans — have been produce the sweet pod for the last mates workweek . Will the Chinese Red Noodle be a tear this twelvemonth ? We shall see …
Also in the mix above areRonde de Valence mad apple , Cinnamon basil , Purple Petra St. Basil the Great , and newly sowedWhite HailstoneandPurple Plum radishes(those little sprout in front ) .
I ’ve left quad in front of the Solanum melongena forChantenay Red Core carrots , which I set off indoors and will be graft soon . Plenty of garden gurus will say you should n’t graft carrot , lest you want a mutant - shaped root that had been disturbed during the transplant process . But since I have cadaver soil that ’s still better , I ’m used to mutant - forge cultivated carrot anyway .
On the other side of the treillage is a cluster ofEnvy edamameplants . These search a little feeble in the beginning as well , but since I fertilized them , the plants are looking stronger and all six of them are bearing pod .
On the next level down from the primary veggie plot are two more tomato plant and four courgette . I love the variegated leave of absence of thisZucchino Rampicante — and I especially ca n’t await for the first prime to yield !
It might sound crazy knowing that I have 16 Lycopersicon esculentum plants this season ( not counting theaccidental love apple ) — but I gave away as many seedlings as I could , still had more left over , and could n’t conduct to compost them . So I carved out blank space in the garden for them . I ’m sure it was a very good decision .
Near the tomato and zucchini plot of ground is our tears mulberry tree . We are in reality getting a fair amount of mulberries this year ! I think it ’s due to us getting rid of the squirrel that had been nibble on the fruits before we could get to them .
We caught the little bastard scurrying inside the tree one good afternoon , probably accumulate away ton of mulberry . I reckon he was stocked up for the next several winters !
My fiancé tried to frighten him out with the hold end of a excavator , excite it around the branches , and next affair we know — the squirrel flew 10 feet into the air ( now I fuck where the term “ pilot squirrel cause ” came from ) and set down on that brick rampart behind the tree . Actually , more likesmackedinto that wall . He repose lifeless for several minutes , not moving , face down on the ground . We both think we ( accidentally ) kill the poor animal . We decided to allow him alone just in lawsuit he was still see stars , and when we check on him again that evening , the body was gone .
We never get a line that squirrel again .
Our grapes have been vining and climb rapidly . you could glimpse a second of our hammock lounging area between the grape trellises .
A single bunch of bananas hangs down near the grapes , and in front , a seam of golden Chrysanthemum frutescens ( a good plant life ) are in full efflorescence .
As you walk down toward the next garden stratum , you ’ll overstep the melon plants which have gotten enormous and are get over the whole route . We let some of them rise and some of them sprawl . Ali Baba watermelon , Bidwell casaba melon melon , Petit Gris de Rennes French cantaloupe , andSakata ’s Sweet melonare all in there somewhere .
We even have a voluntary zucchini plant that is starting to climb up the red trellis on the left . manifestly zucchini seeds do not rot in the compost , as we learned this yr .
After spreading our well - get on compost into all the raised beds , we started see hundred of cucurbits leap from the soil . We saved one just to see what it would develop into … and whaddya recognize , we got more zucchini . I might have to get down a neighborhood “ U - Pick ” of all our squash vine and zucchini this summertime !
A baby Bidwell casaba melon melon , all furry on the outside .
The first pomegranate !
And avocadoes ! I ’m seeing many more on the tree this twelvemonth after not reap a single one last class — again , because of that now - exiled squirrel . I have good feelings about this twelvemonth though .
I hope every single one of these flowers blossom into a juicy lime ! There ’s already a bantam one fruit on our dwarf Bearss lime tree , which we grow in a large Mexicanmacetaon the patio .
Right next to the lime tree diagram is a new plantation owner we just build up , which housesRed Malabar spinachseedlings and Sequoia strawberry plants . The Red Malabar is already starting to vine and its gorgeous ruby stem will eventually climb over our white wall .
And eventually , after what felt like everlastingly and a day , one of my chile Piper nigrum plant has its first yield . This is aChinese Five Color pepper … only four more colors to go ! Hopefully I ’ll get more this summer !
