A July Garden

Two weeks ago I took some photos of my garden. Since then it has grown - both more weedy and more dry. The last two weeks have had many days with temperatures above ninety and with no rain, we feel rather parched. 

If you, like me, like to see others gardens, here is a glimpse of mine. Thankfully you can't quite tell how much of the green in the photos are weeds.

Our lower garden (the smallest of our two patches) has zinnia, sweet corn, and pumpkins this year. Yesterday we ate our first sweet corn. Yum. Our resident ground hog was also enjoying the corn but he made the mistake of showing up this morning, sluggish from a belly full of corn, before Ed had left for work -  and that was his last meal.

This is our larger garden. In the front is the strawberry patch which we rejuvenated by mowing, narrowing, and mulching. It is beginning to green up again. Beside the strawberries was a row of garlic that was just harvested.

Next is peppers interplanted with marigolds, zucchini squash, and eggplant. My eggplant looks terrible this year. I didn't use a row cover this year and the tiny flea beetles are chomping it down. Out of sight behind the taller plants is what should have been a row of carrots. I planted twice and still only have a few tiny plants growing. 

But the potatoes look great, so as usual, some things grow well and others do not. (And the red roots always do well.)  Beside the potatoes are the green beans. The ground hog took a nibble at these, but not nearly as badly as last year. But the beans are not doing well. Maybe because of how hot and dry it is? I'm getting a few to put away but I wish they were producing better.

The onions are nearly ready to pull. Behind them is the broccoli and cabbage hiding under row cover. We have eaten several meals a week from these broccoli plants. They look overgrown and misshapen but  they keep producing side shoots so they earn their spot in the garden. Behind the broccoli is two rows of early potatoes that we are digging.

The tomatoes are just starting to show signs of blight. I'm hoping they produce some before they succumb. It doesn't seem to matter what trick I try, blight hits our tomatoes every year. 

And here is the view from the tomato end of the garden showing both garden plots.

The red raspberries are looking great. If we would just get rain...

Last year my herb garden had totally grown up in weeds and grass so I dug it all out and started over this year. It is still a little sparse but I'm enjoying fresh dill, parsley, and basil.

Not everything that grows here is green! In the last month this girlie has started crawling and sprouted two teeth - what a change from six months ago when we were cuddling our newborn. She loves to be outside, she loves to eat, and she loves her mama so I expect I'll have another garden helper before long.

What challenges and joys have you faced in your garden this year?