Here's the breakdown, starting from the far left.
1. Marigolds: I plant these in the cinder blocks to create a border and repel rodents. They seem to do especially well on the left side, which has very little shade, as opposed to the far right, which has more shade in the morning. This year, rather than alternating colors, I did color blocks of yellow, orange, and red/orange. Just as a side note, they do not deter rodents despite their fragrant aroma.
2. Immediately to the right of the marigolds, I have lavender, oregano, cilantro, dill, and sage. These have done very well (particularly the dill). We make A LOT of pickles in the summer, so I'm excited to have my own fresh dill as opposed to making dried dill sachets, as I've done in the past. Currently still waiting to sprout are the Milkweed seeds I planted a couple weeks ago. I bought them, not realized they needed to be planted in cold weather so they could have six to eight weeks of cold. So instead popped them in damp soil in baggies, then put them in the fridge for a month or so. So we'll see. They are a perennial, so even if I can just get a few of them to come up a little, they'll be back next summer.
3. The tall flowering plants are hollyhocks. For some reason, they are all pink, even though the packet was supposed to be a variety. Oh well. In front of those and to the right of the dill are three rows of beets. I LOVE BEETS. Learned from last summer to thin them out, so hopefully I won't get so many tiny squished-looking ones this year.
4. The big bushy plant is a lumina pumpkin plant. They are supposed to grow smooth, white pumpkins that are ideal for decorating and/or painting. They are also tasty, although I've never used fresh pumpkin in any baking.
5. Immediately the right of pumpkin are two tomato plants: an Early Girl plant that already has between 10-20 little green tomatoes on it, and in the back, a roma plant that is also already growing fruit. I think the extreme heat of June has contributed to their fruitfulness.
6. Then next to the tomatoes are strawberries and rhubarb; we harvested close to 2 cups of strawberries this year (only 4 last year!), but they came in all straggled over the course of two or three weeks, so we really just ate four or five at a go and then ate four or five a couple days later. Put 2 bags of rhubarb in the freezer, plus enough to make 1 strawberry-rhubarb pie.
7. Along the fence in the new section are my cucumbers; my neighbor very casually offered me two giant cages to use for a trellis instead of the fence (guess he doesn't like his fence covered by cucumber vines...too bad.) Starting to get itty bitty cucumbers growing, but it will be a bit before they're ready for harvest.
8. Continuing along the fence, I have zinnias and (I think!) carnations. Unfortunately, I tossed the packets after planting because of course I was going to remember them. Nope. Then a mock-orange bush that has finished flowering in front of the electric boxes. In front of those, up near the front of the lawn timbers, I've planted snapdragons, phlox, daisies, and pink dianthus. They are a little shrouded in overgrown grass because I didn't till up the ground, and I didn't kill of the grass--just planted straight into the yard and then layered cut grass and hay over it. Maybe not the best way to go about it, but I didn't feel like renting a tiller.
9. To the right of the electric box, I have a french-style pumpkin plant that is supposed to grown wide, flatter pumpkins (think old-school cinderella style). It is not as vigorous as the lumina pumpkin, which I've already had to trim in order to keep it from taking over the tomatoes. I'm beginning to think I should have planted them in opposite locations.
10. On the far right, I have three peony plants--this is their third summer, and the first time I got blooms (2!!)
There you have it. Now you can feel totally updated and up to speed.
0 comments: