Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Summer Solstice Overview

Given it is the first day of summer I thought it would be perfect timing to post some overview shots of the patch. The weather this June has been pretty decent and the crops have started to get growing. This will be a late year for the garden but I am hopeful it will catch up quickly now. I'll start with some pea flowers and then proceed from the bottom of the veggie patch:

Salmon Flowered Pea grown from seed shared by Matron. These are just coming into bloom now. I have them growing in a terracotta pot and hope to save some seed from them.

Purple Podded Pea. These are the best producing pea so far with lots of purple pods set already. They are suppose to be rather starchy. I'll shell some young peas soon and see how they taste. They sure look nice either way.

This is the lowest bed. It contains mostly herbs, some recently transplanted red romaine (pouting), broad beans & a black brandywine tomato. The soil in this bed is really bad. Next year I am planning on digging it all out and installing a raised bed with good soil.

Here is my Broccoli bed, they have really been growing lately. Can't wait for fresh broccoli! They are inter-planted with lettuce which will be harvested soon. To the left there are cucumbers starting to grow on the trellis.

This bed contains a mix of lettuce & asian greens, garlic & radishes. The trellis in this bed also has cucumbers growing under it.

These peppers are the only thing growing in this small bed. These are anaheim peppers.

I planted up my half barrel with purple potatoes this year. There also is a cherry tomato in the center, it better get grow or it will be swamped soon.

This bed contains a bunch of onions, 6 tomatoes & a row of garlic.

The rest of the potatoes all went into this bed. Some are growing faster then other but all have sprouted now.

The front of this bed contains dragon tongue beans, in behind pole beans are planted under a trellis. This bed also has two tomatoes & a wigwam of purple podded peas.

The last bed tonight is mostly snap peas. They are growing very well but they don't have a single flower yet. Melons are planted under the trellis behind them.

To wrap things up, here is a shot of a couple lemons growing on my meyer lemon tree. The tree is getting another big flush of flowers now so maybe I'll get a few more this year.

16 comments:

  1. Wow! this is just the best time in the veggie garden, isn't it? Everything is just blooming! Glad the Salmon peas flowere for you.

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  2. Those pea blossoms are gorgeous! I'm surprised at how advanced your garden is, with the weather you've been having.

    I didn't know you had a Meyer Lemon tree. How long does it take for the lemons to grow from nubbins and turn yellow?

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  3. Matron - I was happy to see the salmon flowers today! Thanks for sharing the seed.

    Granny - This spring was a bad one. Since June rolled around it has been pretty warm though. I just got this meyer last fall but I have had a pink lemon growing for a few years now. The fruit is usually ready in the winter if it sets in the spring. Not sure if a meyer is any faster. Thomas should know.

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  4. Your garden looks so wonderfully and efficiently organized - evidence of a great experienced gardener hard at work, I'm sure!

    This is our first full year of vegetable gardening and gardening in new space, and I've been feeling totally overwhelmed with keeping everything organized. I either have too much or to little growing in each bed. I would like my gardening beds to be eventually more, um, optimally utilized like yours!

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  5. Brilliant post! Eveything looks wonderful.

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  6. Garden is looking so good, everything is looking so healthy even with the cool spring weather.

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  7. Your garden looks great Dan. I just love the salmon flowered pea. I planted a purple podded pea this year and it is just beautiful! We ate some of them last night for dinner. They were very tasty but a little starchier then the other peas.

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  8. Great time of year when you can see the garden growing from day to day. Everything looks healthy and happy.

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  9. Those pea blossoms are just beautiful. One of the secret flowers of the veggie gardener.

    Those baby lemons are just darling too - must be exciting to have the lemon set fruit and then watch it grow to maturity. I wish I had a better indoor space to overwinter a Meyer Lemon as I sure would love to grow one.

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  10. Your peas flowers are beautiful. I have some that were, but now the don't really open before they set the pea. So I don't get to see their pretty purple bicolor flower.

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  11. We found the purple podded peas didn't taste as good as the normal ones so to get some purple flowers we are trying a mangetout called Carouby de Maussane. It hasn't flowered yet as I think the dry weather is making for slow growth. The salmon flowers are lovely though - what variety are they?

    One question - how will you harvest the potatoes without disturbing the tomato plant?

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  12. The garden is looking great...so cool the lemons are growing.. ;o)

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  13. Everything looks great! I'm super excited for those little lemons.

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  14. Your veggies look great and are more advanced than mine here in North Yorkshire.

    However, my peas and beans are really putting a spurt on and my courgettes, turnips, potatoes and lettuce (about 3 varieties) are all benefitting from a load of rain and hot sun (got up to nearly 40 degrees the other day - ridiculous this far North!).

    Enjoyed your veggie pictures, by the way!

    Alan

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  15. Wow, everything is looking nice Dan...we are at least 2 weeks behind schedule due to rain and cold temps.

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  16. I grew potatoes for the first time last year and they were -amazing-. I moved this spring and we got the garden started a little too late to get potatoes going for this year. Sigh.

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