Garden Update

The sunny and warm weather we've been having lately has been good for the growing things in my gardens. Although I had been watering them regularly, the inch of rain we've had since Thursday will certainly enable me to roll the hose back up again for a few days. That's the main disadvantage with a raised bed garden--things seem to dry out much quicker than if this was a garden I had actually tilled and planted right in the ground.

Here's a look at the newest garden. Things are growing, but not as quickly and they certainly don't look as hardy as the tomatoes, peppers and squash in my neighbor's garden across the street. Once I've harvested from this garden in the fall, I'm going to have to do a soil test and plan on adding some amendments to make this soil more "veggie friendly" for next summer's growing seaon.
There are 2 squash plants to the left, a couple of zucchini plants right down in front and the others are tomatoes (in the cages). The pepper plants are still only about 6" tall and I don't think there will be any usable broccoli from those plants this year. (BTW, it was bunnies that was eating those broccoli leaves--Mr. Johnson spotted a half-grown bunny in this garden last week--those little buggers were pushing their way in at the bottom of the fence!)

Here's a close-up of a couple tomatoes.
My other garden is looking much better -- I even managed to get some weeds pulled before taking this picture.
I've got all the wire trellises up and the peas, beans, and cucumbers are beginning their vertical climbs.
Right now, we're eating lettuce every day and we even had a few fresh peas for supper one night last week.
Here's a look at the garbage can potatoes. They are also doing well, but I haven't grubbed around in the dirt to check and see if any potatoes have begun forming yet.

I'm pretty happy with the progress of my gardens this year. Other than the bunnies eating the broccoli, there don't seem to be any other problems with pests. I see birds (mainly chipping sparrows) in the garden quite often, so I think they're taking care of a lot of the insect pests. The weather has been pretty good and now it looks as though we'll be getting some regular rain showers again, so my main focus will be back to weed removal.

Today I also want to send a special greeting out to one of my faithful blog readers--my mom's friend & neighbor Elaine, who started her radiation treatments for breast cancer last week. I hope all goes well with your treatments Elaine, and I'll keep you in my prayers!