Sunday, July 2, 2023

A Spring and Early Summer Vegetable Garden Tour

As promised, I am back with a tour of my vegetable garden.  This post will feature what the garden looked like when just planted, and what it looks like right now, at the beginning of summer.  I included two videos at the end of this post where you will really see the difference:  Wow! what a difference a month makes!  It amazes me how fast a little seed can grow into a huge plant.

This raised bed contains mostly broccoli, cauliflower, beans, radishes, spinach, and Swiss Chard.  I harvested my first head of cauliflower yesterday.


This is the lower vegetable bed in lat may.  Jackson is sitting right on top of the onions. 😒 He's never met a fence he'd rather be on the other side of. 😀 A cucumber plant just sprouted under the black wire teepee and those are potato plants sprouting out of the ground on the left.  Right by Jackson's paws are little carrot sprouting.


I tried a new kale this year that I'm loving.  The name of it is in the first video at the end of the post.  It's not only very tasty but it is so pretty and grows very well too!


The potato beds in late May...wait to you see what they look like now!


Jackson's favorite napping place is in the shade right under the huge broccoli leaves. 


One month later, Jackson is still sitting in the onion bed, but as you can tell, they still grew even after he sat on top of them.😁


Here is a far away shot of the broccoli bed.  The broccoli is at one end with the beans on the edge and the spinach, Swiss Chard and radishes in the forefront.  I already harvested a row of radishes and reseeded a second time.



I've never had Swiss Chard before.  I planted it on recommendation of my daughter.  It looks ready to start harvesting so I'm waiting for her to arrive to show me how to prepare it.  I hope I like it.  She says it's really good for you.   It sure looks pretty in the garden though.


I found the best way to grow beans.  I plant them right in front of the top retaining wall and let them cascade over the edge.  Harvesting will be a breeze, because I can just walk along the wall and hand pick them.


The broccoli is just starting to form heads.


Here's my one cucumber plant now.  Much larger than the little sprout I showed you earlier in the post.  I only plant one cucumber plant and I have found that it supplies more cucumbers than I can even consume and can.


My peas didn't do that great this year.  They are only about a foot high and a lot didn't even germinate.  I was told it's because we were way too hot too soon and they didn't get the cooler weather they like.


The zucchini and summer squash are looking great.  


In my large vegetable garden I grow more potatoes, tomatoes, onions, squash, peppers, more peas, more radishes, more carrots, and dill.


I "trellis" my tomato plants to the fence.  I find this is the best way to grow tomatoes.  They stay nice and tidy, flat on the fence and are healthier this way because they get lots of air circulation.


I plan to can cucumbers this year so I grew some dill.  What a pretty plant this is.  I think I will forever have this in my garden just because I like the way it looks so much!   To the left of the dill are pepper plants and to the right are more radish seedlings.


Another new plant I tried this year was beets.  I couldn't believe how fast they grew;  I ate my first beet the other day.  I roasted it first, then put in the fridge to get cold and then sliced it and ate it on a salad.  I couldn't believe how incredible it was eating it that way!


This year I am training my winter squash to grow up the trellis as if I let it grow on the ground, it smothers all the other plants.  So far it's working quite well.


For whatever reason, the peas in this garden grew better than the peas in the other garden.


I have two beds of potatoes on the other side of my fence since animals don't bother potatoe plants.  They are growing amazingly well!



My first squash blossom.  So pretty!


And now here are two walk through videos of my garden.  The first one shows the garden in late May, when I just planted seeds and small plants and mulched with shredded leaves.



This second video shows the garden exactly one month later...again...what a difference a month makes!


I hope you enjoyed my vegetable garden tour!  

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

 

39 comments:

  1. You have such a great garden! We have tried a few times but can't get much to grow - I just don't have a green thumb! It's great you have been able to start enjoying some veggies from your garden too!

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    1. Thank you. I never know what people mean when they say they "can't get much to grow". I really just put the seed in the ground and it grows. But I have problems with disease and insects too. There's always something to deal with.

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  2. What a beautiful garden, so very cool.

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  3. Oh my garden goodness! You have an absolutely abundantly beautiful garden! We have two small raised beds which do ok. I'm struggling with zucchini and cucumbers as the cucumbers will not grow and the zucchini are very small. Perhaps I need more patience.

    I love how your garden area is enclosed and of course love your garden kitty guard. Happy summer gardening! Found your post on SSPS #268 :)

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    1. Thanks so much. Zucchini can be tricky, I often lose a lot to blossom end rot, but one plant produces so many it doesn't matter much. And cucumbers often are plagued by pest and disease. I have to enclose my garden as we have a lot of critters: deer, rabbits, wood chucks, raccoons...you name it. Yes, Jackson is my garden guard! ha ha.

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  4. Oh wow.. you're hard work is really paying off. That's beautiful.

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  5. Your gardens are beautiful! Your photos make me want to garden once again. We gave it up a few years ago as we were always battling groundhogs and bunnies going under and over our fences. May they continue to thrive the remainder of the summer and ENJOY!

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    1. Thank you! I know pests can be so discouraging to gardening. I often refer to my garden as a "fortress" to keep the critters out. One year before my husband got the fence up, I walked out the door and saw a wood chuck enjoying my romaine lettuce like it was a salad buffet. I never saw a happier wood chuck.

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  6. Amy, your garden is beautiful! I love the variety and the amount of plants you're able to grow. You've inspired me to consider what to do differently next year. :) Thanks for sharing this!

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  7. Thank you from your SSPS Team and Esme for sharing your various links with us at #268 SSPS Linky. I am busy designing and creating an access database of IG and FB links and handles as you share your links with SSPS.
    If you have an account please let me know your IG and FB information then I can add and easily tag you when you're in the top 5 and I promote your post. Feel free to email me at esme@esmesalon.com or in the comments

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    1. Thank you. I'm ameliasfleurs on Instagram and Amy's Creative Pursuits on Facebook.

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  8. Your garden looks amazing and love seeing Jackson enjoying it too :) Cats and gardens just go together!
    I've had swiss chard from Misfits Market before but I wasn't a fan. Hope you like it. Oh, and you will love the dill. I've grown it every year for years and even though I don't use much of it, it attracts swallowtail butterflies, think that's where they lay there eggs in. Unless they can't get through your fence, but you can always plant some outside of the fence.
    Seeing your potatoe plants reminds me of my childhood. We used to have a potatoe field and I remember how much work it was during harvesting when I helped my mom. But such nice memories :)

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    1. Thank you. I agree, cats and gardens go together. I don't know if I'll ever get around to eating the Swiss Chard as there is so much else to eat. I will probably just freeze some for now. And you're so right about the Dill. It keeps getting bigger and bigger and I just love it!

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  9. Some great tips Amy. I love to see Jackson in the garden! I don't have enough room for growing vegetables but hope to get an allotment one day. Thanks for linking.

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  10. Wow. Well done. Everything is really flourishing (thriving,I guess ) #GardenAffair

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  11. You have a green thumb - what a gorgeous garden. I want to eat at your house this summer.

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  12. Just wow!! Not only do you have the most beautiful flower gardens but check out your veggies. Even for the unusually hot temps you've had so far. I tried to plant a few veggies in some small raised beds but put them too close to our rock wall and the heat radiating off the wall was very hard on them. We have had 24 consecutive days of triple digits and that has been hard on my plants, too. Hope maybe next year I will have better luck.

    Have never eaten a beet by itself. Only in Panamanian potato salad. Which I like very much. I am sure your homegrown beet was mouth-watering.

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  13. It looks like you'll get to enjoy that bounty for quite a while.

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    1. Oh yes, I preserve everything so it lasts all year.

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  14. Oh so beautiful garden, that pumpkin flower is beautiful

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  15. I am always amazed at people who can grow vegetables and things as I just do not have a green thumb at all. I've tried a few times but they have always failed. Your garden is looking amazing!

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    1. And I'm always amazed when people are amazed because I feel I do nothing special, but thanks so much!

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  16. Oh, to have access to fresh veggies in the garden! That's a dream. I'm glad your vegetable garden is looking good.

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    1. It is a dream to eat what you grow yourself. Thanks so much.

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  17. Amy, love the your of your garden. I love fresh vegetables especially in the summer.
    Thanks bunches for sharing this with Sweet Tea & Friends this month dear friend.

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  18. Wow ! I am drooling over your greens and veggies . Thanks for sharing with Garden Affair.

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