EARLY JULY IN THE GARDEN
It’s a gorgeous summer evening, and I thought you might like to take a walk with me in my vegetable garden. In less than 8 weeks our garden has gone from tiny seedlings to a jungle of green, producing overtime! Our raised bed gardens have reached their limits after adding on year after year. And this year we (and when I say “we” I mean Bobby) are putting pavers where mulch walkways once were. Come with me this beautiful summer evening and let’s walk…
This picture was taken about 6 weeks ago.
And this evening…
Bobby is busy this weekend finishing the paver walkways. These pavers used to be our patio. When we put in a new patio last year, we saved the pavers for the garden walkways. Bobby has been working on the paths all summer. I think he will be finished tomorrow. Just in time for the magazine photo shoot later this month,
This has been a huge project and Bobby has done it all by himself. His day job is very cerebral so he loves spending his time working with his hands (or golfing) on the weekend. What an industrious guy!
Here’s whats blooming and producing in the garden now…
Eggplant… they have the prettiest flowers!
Collard greens… Can you see the little droplet of water?
Cabbage
We have so much broccoli right now. I just picked a dishpan full, blanched them, shocked them and froze 6 bags. YUMMY!
Peppers… This year we planted, red, green, yellow and orange. I just might plant a hot pepper this week. I love hot pepper jelly!
Tomatoes. In a couple of weeks they will be ready to pick, eat and can! We planted yellow pear, red caprese, early girl, better boy, jet star, beefsteak and 4 paste tomatoes that are great for making sauce.
We also have carrots, Swiss chard, spinach, green beans (lots and lots of green beans), leeks, onions, rhubarb, zucchini, cucumbers, cauliflower, lettuces and flowers.
I love to plant vegetable and annual flowers together!
Zinnias are my favorite summer flower! I think they are the happiest blooms!
Marigolds, globe amaranth, salvia, dianthus, petunias, snapdragons and more make their home in the veggie garden. The amount of rain has been as close to perfect as it can be this planting season. My flowers are as happy as my veggies!
Right now I’m harvesting broccoli, peppers, green beans, cucumbers and zucchini. This cuke will be part of a yummy cucumber salad!
Look at these gorgeous,big zucchini blossom. They are big and bright and turn into yummy zucchini! Zucchini are my hardest working producers!
I have the best recipe for GLAZED LEMON ZUCCHIN BREAD. So worth checking out HERE.Thanks for spending a little time in the garden with me today!
Come back soon and let’s see how my garden quickly changes!!!
Remember to pin this to your GARDEN or SUMMER Pinterest boards. You can follow me on Pinterest HERE and see what I’m pinning daily!
Your garden is fabulous and so is your hubby!!
Yes on both accounts! Thanks!
I had to pin one of the pictures of your garden. Beautiful! What an abundance of gorgeous plants, veggies, & flowers. Happy Independence Day to you and Bobby!
Your garden looks fantastic. You must not have gotten the rain we have in Indiana. It seems like the sun is lost to us. Our poor tomato plants aren’t doing so well. Even the herbs are pouting. They want some nice sunny days. Our yard is limited to just two raised beds — our humongous maple trees must be at least 80 years old. Too much shade and too many roots make it impossible to have anything but a few shade plants. Can’t wait to see the goodies you make from your garden. If I lived close I’d volunteer to help 🙂 Happy Independence Day.
Oh, and I’d take you up on it! From here on out till frost we will be very busy! And I will need help in the kitchen too … lots of freezing and canning! This week I’m making blackberry and sour cherry jam.
Wow! How your garden grows! Thanks for another walk in the garden ….wish I could try some of it’s abundance…fresh veggies taste so good. You two are blessed but hard work rewards eh? Enjoy.
Lucky girl!
Yvonne, your garden is lovely! Every time I see pictures it makes me miss our garden all the more!
Absolutely breathtaking !!!!! The pathway is outstanding. You r both very talented.
Your garden is amazing! I’m always so impressed with anyone who can grow actual vegetables! Love your flowers…..at my old house my zinnias always got that “rust”….haven’t tried them yet at the new house but I do love them. The groundhog took my poor flowers down to a low enough level that the bunnies were able to finish them off!! Sigh…..
Thank you for sharing your garden with me!!!
I am sure our zinnias will get rust later this season. It seems to be how zinnias go! We don’t have bunnies or groundhogs here. The hawks and foxes see to that!
Your garden is lovely and filled with wonderful veggies. I especially like the stone pavers pathway. Our garden usually resembles yours quite a bit, Unfortunately the drought and water rationing, not to mention the ridiculous heat, Has caused some major problems this year. We lost or peas, lettuce and a few other favorites. xo
Your garden looks great! My garden was planted late this year, so it is way behind yours! I can’t wait to pick some fresh veges!
Thanks for sharing! In the days of my youth, your garden would have been called a “truck patch” due its size.
Beautiful! Hats off to Bobby for growing and you for harvesting.
Do you have a scarecrow? I love , love scarecrows. My husband and I participate in BACKYARD HABITATE so we are all about wildlife, scarecrows aren’t to chase the birds, in our case. We plant for the wildlife and plan to enhance their lives, but I have this thing for scarecrows!
I think you live iin Lancaster area and MAY have access to lots of scarecrows in the area. Am I correct? How about doing a unit on scarecrows?
Come on, you can do it!
Happy 4th!
Hi Nan, I don’t have a scarecrow but I should!
Everything looks wonderful. How satisfying to eat something grown by your own fair hands (or Bobby’s)!
Very nice work the two of you do together…impressive! May you both have a blessed 4th of July.
That’s is one the the prettiest gardens I have ever seen….we have downsized and only have a patio but I have an herb garden in a large wash tub….beautiful Yvonne!!!
Did you ever fry zucchini blossoms? Delicious.
Yes.. they are delicious.
Thanks for sharing your garden. Everything looks spectacular. What kind of fertilizer do you use? And do you start from seed or plants?
Thanks
Hi Gail, we don’t use any fertilizer or pesticides on our garden. We amend the soil in the spring and that’s it.
We plant some seed and some seedlings, it just depends on what works best in our area.
Wow. Beautiful. Everything is so green! I love looking at pictures of huge lush lawns, it’s so hot here in southern California nothing survives on our patio. Enjoy it, you are blessed!
WOW….your garden has grown with abundance. Nothing like having fresh vegetables. We have so many squirrels and a few bunnies so, we can’t have a garden unless we put wire around the area. Every flower this year I planted was either dug up or ate……the squirrels even get in my urns and dig holes around the boxwoods. Do you know a solution? Happy 4th Weekend**********Oh, the pavers look nice. You two are smart…..
Sorry to hear that the local animals are feasting on your plantings!!!
Wow, your vegetable garden is really producing! I love the walkways Bobby is putting in, how nice to not have to trudge through the dirt between your raised beds! Happy harvesting!
Thanks for sharing your bountiful garden. It looks amazing. Lots of hard work.
Any Purple Martins or other birds in your bird houses? We went for a little road trip last week to see a bird hotel full of Purple Martins. It was very interesting. I don’t often comment, but love your posts.
Wow! Everything looks so lush and abundant! With our dry California drought conditions, your garden is like a dream – and mine is a nightmare.
From,
Michelle at simplysantabarbara.blogspot.com
Your garden is abolutely beautiful! Love the path and the raised beds. I have raised beds also, but we have pea gravel for the paths. I just picked my first dinner plate sized broccoli this weekend. Produce is starting to come in here in Wisconsin.
Love your blog Yvonne! You are so creative!
Happy Summer!
~Beth
Awe… thanks Beth! So nice to hear from you!
wonderful garden with so much produce. I am envious of you. I think this might be a project for us to do for fall to ready it for next spring.
Senior gardeners with to much rain in Missouri this year. We do have tomatoes , peppers, onions and lettuce in our flower beds.
Thanks for information. Lovely photos.
Where we live gardening is crazy – our “holler” never totally warms up; we have garden sluts (aka slugs) out the kazoo and other biting things. We are fully organic, raised beds, we compost, etc. What do you use on your collards to keep them so healthy? Cabbage? Broccoli? Those are almost impossible for us to grow. Please do tell.
Yvonne, I hope you will see this! Your paver pathways look gorgeous! I’m wondering how you will keep the weeds and grass from coming through? Thank you!