Garden Update from Summer Solstice by laurabruno
| Re-blogged from Laura Bruno's Blog |
I spent the morning of Summer Solstice finally — after nearly a year — putting pots of gifted black raspberry bushes into the ground. Those guys are spiky, and I just couldn't for the life of me decide where to locate them, since I really want to add three serviceberry trees and two Nanking cherry bushes along the side fence where it would have made sense to grow them as a thorny hedge. Anyway, they went into the ground on Solstice, where they await installation of a small trellis and my next load of wood mulch. It's sad that it took an Earth holy day for me to get them in the ground, but it also felt like a great way to honor the day:
I'm starting to get the hang of succession planting and harvesting, so last Fall's garlic came out, in order to make room for bush beans and the Brussels sprouts taking over the "Guarden" Bed. I harvested several more bulbs after this, and holy, moly does our basement smell like garlic! Wowzers, that's potent stuff before it dries!
I took the rest of these photos in the afternoon on Solstice before David and I went out for a little celebratory dinner. We've had so much rain since then that everything has noticeably grown, but guess what? It's raining again now, so these photos go up. Meanwhile, the trend continues of me amending the soil with rock dust and compost and then an unscheduled rain shower washing it all in. Thank you, faeries and Nature spirits! :)
Front beds from driveway, looking North
Our butterfly garden continues to grow on the far North side of the front yard. Milkweed, zinnias, liatris, dill, yarrow, sunflowers, dianthus and more continue to grow in preparation for Monarch season.
Some Fairy Tale Pumpkins have finally taken, and they're growing well. The fava bean bushes came out yesterday, because rain finished them off, making room for pink okra.
Our cantaloupe have reached across the aisles.
If you look closely, you can even see some watermelon already growing.
I love the afternoon light in the backyard! (And yes, that busted out garage roof has inspired much of my vertical gardening. Little do the neighbors know, but they will soon be getting paw paw trees, too, if I have anything to do with it. There's more than one way to hide an eyesore!)
Lots of areas ready for more wood mulch, but overall, the gardens themselves are growing well.
I spoke to one of our neighbors in the blue house today, and he's very excited for the soon to be arriving compost bin I bought them last night. Apparently, they throw away "tons" of food scraps, and they're excited to contribute to the constant need for compost. I love how our yard has become a community hang out for the neighbors and their friends. Not only have they planted zinnias by their front porch, but the kids also planted some sunflowers in the backyard. They've had a very late start, but they are growing. It's great to see the kids having friends over and really noticeable how they now hang out near the front gardens with all the flowers. Before I started gardening, this yard was such an eyesore that we never really saw them hanging out much here.
Flowers! They really make a difference, even in the ugliest environment — beautifying not just landscapes, but lives.
Many blessings!
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