Backyard Garden

Other than the fact we need to mow the lawn the backyard is happy and lush. All the rain that came down last night soaked everything thoroughly and it all looks good. From the other side... The pumpkin patch may need to be thinned soon! Salad second cuttings are ready... The tomatoes are growing like mad and I am optimistic about the harvest. Hopefully all is going well up in the big garden where we have twice as many tomatoes!

So the tomatoes are loving all the hot weather we have been having and getting big and thick and flowering like crazy. I noticed that some of the flowers are giving way to tiny tomatoes which is so exciting. This year I have several types in the garden Nepal, Brandywine, San Marzano, early girl cherry tomatoes, and an heirloom mix of cherry tomatoes. When I finally put these seedlings in do you think I marked them? Nope! Too much rushing when things had to get into the ground and I grabbed the best plants of each and threw them in. My logic at the time was this, I just want tomatoes, and at the end of the season I will know what they are. Then I also have all these funny tomato plants that are coming up from seed in the compost. They could be any kind, cherry, beefsteak, last year's Nepals, I have no clue! They look healthy and so I left several plants. Now I have a tomato free for all. From the looks of these little green starts we have a cherry tomato (top) because is is perfectl

So our garden here is doing okay... and I say okay because we got everything in late, the cabbage worms have been at the cabbage, some tomato plants showed early signs of blight and needed to be removed, and the groundhog that disappeared is back, or another has taken its place. That said here it is! The big tomato plant here in the front looks good..note that all the red cabbage in this first box was chomped by a groundhog... Salad needs to be picked in this front box, this being the second time, we have a bunch of mixed carrots and lettuces here. After our first planting some animal tore up the whole bed mixing it all  up and tearing up the seed. The herb boxes in the back are coming along nicely, there is a big tomato here that came from the compost...which means our compost is not getting hot enough, but I will take it because it looks strong and healthy! Some of the big terra cotta pots just have flowers, I love these "Love Lies Bleeding", beautiful flower with a gru

The lovely tea roses at the top of the garden...                                                 Scarlet runner beans and purple basil mulched... potatoes that need mulch and to be weeded still... mulched rows with cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumber, swiss chard, beets, carrots, onions, nore basil... Tomatoes! Nepal, Itailian paste tomatoes, and brandywines... Another shot of the mulched rows. We are using newspapers and dirty hay from the sheep infused with tiny little dry poops. Makes great mulch and fertilizer. Hopefully it helps keep the weeding and watering time down!