Sunday, June 5, 2022

Midwest Gardening: Herbs and Veggies on June 1

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 Such a busy week, I finally took photos on the 1st, and then have not had time, sitting down, to get them up!

Are we doing things differently, Yes! We cut back on the quantity of tomatoes, because my canning pantry is still full from our last two years. We also cut back on zucchini and yellow summer squash for the same reason. We will have plenty of fresh produce, just not for mass canning.

The first plants to pop out are herbs.
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This is the second year for a new Sage plant (middle) and it's doing well. I have another new Sage to the left, with Parsley, lower right is Marjoram, which is lovely with chicken and pork. The other bits of green are sedums. Last year I bought a square foot of small sedums, and sprinkled bits of them in lots of empty places. And they came back! YAY!

The marker on the left is Cilantro from seed which is doing nothing. Every year I plant herb seeds in the greenhouse and they just don't make it when transplanted. So I'm giving up! 

On the front porch I have pots with Parsley, Basil and Rosemary, Cherry Tomatoes and flowers.

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One of the  first plants to appear in the garden are the  Chives, which can really go wild. I keep a container on the porch and have three spots in the garden that always have Chives.

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I'm excited above the herbs and the trough pond is my climbing rose---which if you can see the buds will be a massive display. We have five birdhouses on this trellis, and they seem to all have noisy, scolding, sparrows, and I think some wild canaries in one. 
I spent an entire day, clearing the 5' easement behind the greenhouse and this trellis and used the weed fabric and three big bags of mulch back there, so the rose will no longer be attacked by weeds.

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I'd love to say I'm growing Spearmint---but it's invasive and I have been pulling it out for thirty-eight  years. The two Rhubarbs are doing well, I did a large cutting on Monday. And, we will have dessert this weekend. I did put a Moon Pumpkin started in the greenhouse in between the two Rhubarbs. Cross your fingers we get a nice big Pumpkin. 

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In the vegetable garden on the left are pots with Carnival and Green Peppers, next is Kohlrabi I grew in the greenhouse, then Spinach, then Fordhook Chard, and Ruby Chard, far right are 6 Broccoli plants. This area gets some shade in the afternoon, so I put the cooler loving plants here.

Our vegetable garden is roughly 20x 28' and we use cloth to cover the ground and then plant afterward. It works for us---and keeps the weeds at bay. We don't put mulch on it, and it's removed and reused for usually three years.
It works!!

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And, We leave lots of space in the garden for stumbling around, lol. On the railings I grow Nasturtiums, the bees love them, radishes, green onions, lettuces.

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On our trellis in the middle, I have beans on each side this year. They are doing well, and the birds didn't get all the seeds this year. I really consciously rotate crops. 

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Winter Squash, small Pumpkins and Gourds are along the east side. These hopefully will all be trained up the walls, and I planted lots of sunflowers along here also.

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Three north side trellis' have cucumbers, three varieties, that will be trained to go up. We have been amending the soil on this end of the garden which was all clay and rock. It looked really good this Spring after Hubby tilled in all our raked leaves and peat moss. We did that last fall also.  

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In between the trellis' are suflowers, hopefully not fifteen feet tall. I always try to mix flowers in my garden for the pollinators. We have twelve tomato plants with cages this year.

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A few Zucchini a couple of Summer Yellow Squash. I'm using extra tomato cages as hose protection.

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A few extra plants, Green peppers, and some extra Cherry Tomatoes. This is where the sandbox was the Grand grew out of. We are using paver base now with some future plans for this area. So many projects, so little time. 
Not shown, we are doing red potatoes in a garbage can, where you add soil as it grows. We will see how that works.

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Gardening is not all vegetables, a new trellis for the Clematis, and despite digging out half the DayLilies...they are super full again this year.
I'll show the shady areas next week after I plant some Coleus I started from seed and some new Caladiums.

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In our entertaining areas, I have pots, some filled with Mint for Bee protection, (I'm allergic) and others with Lemon Grass for the mosquitos. 
Flowers from our greenhouse include: 4 O'Clocks, Marigolds, Bachelor Buttons, Alyssum, Nasturtiums, Forget Me Nots, and I planted lots of Zinnias and Sunflowers and some taller Marigolds. These are all around the yard and in garden areas in the ground and in pots.

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On the East side of the house are Perennials, Holly Hocks(only a few this year) some must have froze out. I have planted a tray of seeded starts from the greenhouse and also seeds in the ground, so next year will be again full of Holly Hocks! (Bi-ennials)

The old yellow chair was retired(disintegrated) and is replaced for now with a light orange pot full of flowers and grass. Our Peonies are delayed from the late spring and just starting to bloom this week.

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Along the east fence are lots of winter Squashes planted to climb the fencing. 
I have placed my Hot Pepper pots here, far from the garden and the other peppers. It's always a surprise when a nice bell pepper, slightly misshaped turns out to be hot from cross pollinating. 

We also have Japanese Eggplants and Dill on this side. (no photo)

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The first Peony bloom ....YAY! 

Happy Midwest Gardening, more next week as I finish up the rest of the yard, slowly! 

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW???

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18 comments:

  1. Your garden is so impressive! I've got three pots of herbs, lol!

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    1. After a very cold start, it is going bonkers, plus we have had rain---which is far better than watering. thanks for stopping by!

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  2. Sandi, All I can think of when seeing all that you have growing in your garden is a big green salad with yummy dressing and a big bowl of zuchinni floating in butter and salt and pepper. I could happily live on those two things. A little nasturtims thrown in don't hurt either. Another bumper crop year for you..Happy Wednesday..xxoJudy

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    1. LOL, yes, Judy---exactly what we love to eat. Yes, the Nasturtiums are eatable, but the bees love them, and they drop their flowers so no dead-heading. Yay!

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  3. How I would love to have a garden with all of those vegetables and herbs! Wow, so much goodness there. We have limited space here, but I really want to grow a few veggies. My health hasn't been the greatest over the last year or two, so my energy level has been affected, and I'm not sure I could keep up with a garden this year. But I'm hoping to grow more next year.

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    1. Sorry to hear that, but start small...with one large pot, and you can grow lettuce, an herb or two, and a climbing veggie or flower. Not much to take care of that way, but enjoy!

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  4. Seeing your garden is so exciting and love the variety of veggies and plants. I live in Tucson and it's real hard to grow many vegetables without using an overabundance of water. Since water is such a scarcity here all I grow are herbs. Thanks for sharing at Happiness is Homemade.

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    1. Hi, Nancy. I can remember using 'dirty' water---water from washing dishes, etc at my mom and dad's cottage when it was drought---to water the necessary plants. Of course we did dishes in two dishpans then. Soapy water discourages bugs anyway. We also keep rainbarrels, because it can be dry here too!

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  5. Capital initial letters for all the plants and veggies. Hmmm. The stylebook of the magazine I edited tended towards Guardian practice: running words together rather than hyphens, surnames rather than Mr or Mrs, and outright warfare on capital letters. Even references to the prime minister didn't warrant capitals, and this was 25 years before the emergence of the buffoon presently guiding our country at ever-increasing speed towards the infernal regions.. Perhaps I'd make an exception in the case of kohlrabi; it always sounded like an indian prince

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    1. Totally understand the befuddlement, caps can go either way it seems here when naming things. Yes, Prince Kohlrabi is definitely capped. Grins, Sandi

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  6. It's always so much fun to see what's growing in your garden each year, Sandi. My parents recently started using the weed cloth and they love it too. I've been amazed at how much weeding they've been able to cut back on just from using the cloth. I love that you have a fun mix of veggies, herbs and flowers too. I replanted 2 different species of hydranges in spots that are not doing well so I'm hoping to be able take them back from the ground and into pots again. I think the heat is just too much for them right now. Fingers crossed they come out as lush and happy as your plants are! Hugs, CoCo

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    1. Yep, hydrangeas are not doing well here, but then I think I have to pay $45.00 from a nursery to get one to really take. Thanks for stopping by---long as we have rain the plants are happy---it's the dry heat that really is hard on stuff!

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  7. Oh that peony!! What a beautiful sign of spring! I"m inspired to add a couple things to my raised beds. Your garden looks wonderful Sandi - thanks for sharing it all with us!

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    1. Hi, Barbara---we got some real heat and the peonies all exploded and were done in 5 days...so sad...thanks for stopping by, Sandi

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  8. Such a lovely garden with all of those veggies and herbs!

    Love those dragonflies on the fence.

    Happy Monday, Sandi!

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  9. Hi Sandi, I just found your blog and if blogger doesn't give me any trouble, I will be your latest follower as soon as I type this and hit the follow button. I say that because it took me exiting your blog and then getting back on a second time before I could type in the comment box.
    Anyway: Love the dragon flies on your fences and I'm betting that you made them :) You're quite the gardener. My garden is very late this year, we didn't really start having warm weather until last weekend. So far my tomatoes are only blooming, I might get fruit my late August or early September at this rate. Your profile says your location is Chicago-land, I was raise in Michigan City, IN . . . very close by. I've lived in the Pacific Northwest for almost 50 years, but I still have a place in my heart for the Midwest. Something that I truly miss this time of the year are the lightening bugs; we don't have them here.
    Well, very happy to meet you and I hope that we can become great blogging friends.
    Connie :)

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    1. Thanks so much for joining, the dragonflies are by a southern Illinois artist, somewhere I have his card, and it's amazing how well they hold up. We spent a week in Seattle, and had to see your Botanic gardens, so lush and green. What a wonderful place to live. Thanks so much for joining, we have covid right now---so posting is erratic at best, Sandi

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Thank you for any and all comments. I will be happy to answer any questions or comments in replies or email! HUGS!