Gardening · Other good stuff

Garden Update

Lacey

If you read Gardening Corner for the Kids or Prepping the Garden you may remember that this year in an attempt to keep the kids and rabbits from picking, eating, and trampling whatever I try to grow I planted some herbs in our front beds, made a gardening corner for the kids in one corner of the backyard, and then planted some okra, squash, and garlic in another corner. Here’s how it’s going so far.

The dill and cilantro in the front beds are looking good. My basil didn’t sprout. However, my mom and step-dad kindly gave me a few of their plants. Plus they say they have a lemon parsley plant for me too. So fingers crossed those transplants go well. The chives are growing, but next time I am going to go back to planting those in a large pot. They are so fine that weeding around them is pretty difficult. The Russian Sages were tiny little things last year. Now they are big as bushes with pretty purple tips.

The kids corner is going well. Their snap peas, or as my son calls them “beanstunks”, are growing up okra stalks leftover from last year. We put a tomato plant that was almost dead back there for more shade, and it is coming back to life. I had also put some compost at the bottom of the tomato plant, and now there are little tiny sprouts. We aren’t sure what they are, but just for fun we are going to let them grow to find out.

The squash, okra, and garlic are growing nicely in the other corner. I didn’t realize two important things before planting though. 1) I didn’t know the squash would get so big. Next year, I will plant them further apart. 2) There is a rabbit hole in the fence behind were I planted, and one of my mini dachshunds stands on guard there all day long. I keep trying to block it, but it’s not working.

So far though there have only been a few plant casualties due to kids, dogs, or rabbits. Fingers crossed it stays that way!

For my next gardening venture  I am thinking about planting pumpkins in July so they are ready in October. Since I have never tried to grow them, does anyone have any advice? Is it worth the endeavor?

28 thoughts on “Garden Update”

  1. Your garden is looking good. The rabbits are back with us and have eaten my rosemary and sunflowers although left the chives and mint!. Hubby put rabbit proofing ( plastic kinda bendable fence)around the sunflowers, rhubarb and corn to try and deter them.

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      1. I thought that too. The mint was just planted earlier this year but it is growing rapidly in comparison with other herbs. I’m not sure if the plastic fencing is actually supposed to be fencing, hubby raided the shed to see what we had and came up with that!

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  2. Your lemon parsley plant is at your home and needs to be planted today. Squash likes lots of room and is sometimes built on mounts. I think you are doing a great job!! We have four green tomatoes! YAY! LOL

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  3. Your garden is looking lovely. It’s a pity your basil didn’t sprout, and I hope the ones your mom gave you thrive. It is such an amazing herb to have. All herbs are really! I love my herbs. I don’t do veggies really as I don’t have the space. I have however had butternuts randomly growing in a flower bed, this was a total mystery, but you don’t get more organic than this, we figured out that the one dog must have eaten a pip that had fallen onto the floor, and I will say no more…..anyway they grew and flourished for quite sometime, but eventually we pulled them up due to it starting to trail our entire back yard ! 🙂
    I feel there is nothing better than picking fruit, herbs or veggies from ones own garden…Enjoy 🙂

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    1. Thank you! Yes I was disappointed about the basil. I’ve never had any issue with growing it before AND it’s our favorite.
      Haha! It is interesting when you get something so random that starts growing.
      I agree. I think because I work a desk job it makes me really appreciate the time outside even more.
      Are you growing any herbs right now?

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      1. Oh yes absolutely. Coriander, Parsley, Basil, Tarragon, Thyme, Rosemary and Chives. I planted a fresh chilli and now that has started to sprout and little red chillies are starting. I also, put a couple cherry tomatoes in a pot, that is starting and I am going to try with a normal tomato as well…also try sweet potato, I cut an end off a sweet potato and then wait for it to root, then stick it in the ground, they take awhile to grow and get a decent size, but every now and then, it is nice. x

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      2. Ohhh chilis how fun!
        This is going to be a dumb question, but this is the first year that I am planting my herbs in the ground instead of pots. Do any of yours come back the next year? I’ve read varying things on this. . .

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    1. Well it’s kind of a discombobulated mess this year. Having a “garden” in three different spots was a weird experiment. As long as something grows that we can eat I’ll be happy.

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  5. I had pumpkins started and there was a nice little one going… then I came out and there was a big chomp in it! Animal didn’t even have the decency to just eat the whole thing.
    I don’t have a lot of fruit yet anywhere though, hoping a week of sunshine will help!

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  6. Looking good. Normally I am love gardening, I don’t know what is with me this year. Nice to be inspired by your post – may be I might get myself into gear and do weeding. Vegetable planting is hard work and good for you . Nice update

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  7. I love this! Yay, so glad that it was generally pretty successful for you. ❤ I have no idea how to plant pumpkins, so all I can do is send lots of nurturing energy to the process. You're inspiring me to get going with my outside garden. Blessings.

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  8. Not a silly question at all ! The parsley, sometimes is on-going, the thyme,likes to be used frequently but eventually dies and I have to buy new and replant. The tarragon, just carries on and on, with no worries. The coriander also is on-going, as with the chives, rosemary, and basil. The chillies too, just seem to keep on going.
    Another herb you may want to try is Rocket, but here it is seasonal, and we only can get it during the winter months (weird I know) 🙂 x

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  10. Garden’s looking great! That’s so weird that your basil didn’t sprout – of all the herbs & veg I sewed in the spring, basil is the one that was easiest to grow! I’m growing a green and purple variety, and both have done really well.. lovely to see a garden update 🙂

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      1. I picked some up while I was in Amsterdam, and it grows as quickly as the green. The leaves are a little less full and the roots are smaller. I haven’t tried any yet, I’m waiting for more growth before I do that, but the slugs (unfortunately) love it!

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