Don't forget you can click on the photos to enlarge and view them better.
This are the cherry trees we bought at Costco and planted last year. There is one more farther up inside the chicken pen.
These are the fruit trees we planted three years ago. We got them from Costco also. I know there is apple and pear, not sure if anything else, maybe plum. No fruit from them yet.
These are the hollyhocks that for some reason got planted (by seed) in the vegetable garden. That was a mistake. They are taking up way too much room. They are 6 feet high. I am excited to see them bloom though.
Hollyhocks and kohlrabi.
Jentry is in charge of this garden. She planted those kohlrabi starts but then put in several rows of kohlrabi seed that I didn't believe was going to come up. A bunch of mint over took it and we had to replant and keep pulling the mint out. And I planted a row of corn on one edge because I really didn't think the kohlrabi would come in and I didn't want the whole garden wasted. I can see the kohlrabi is finally coming in. Miraculous.
This garden is also Jentry's planting. But again I snuck in a row of corn on this edge. See how that mint takes over. I don't know what this green row is but the one on the left had to be replanted because nothing came up. It was carrots and got replanted in carrots and leeks but I don't see anything yet.
There are a few beets and I believe she replanted that row too. To the left of those beets was radishes that we harvested and might have replanted. Those greens on the far left might be turnips.
And to the left of the turnips I snuck in a row of cucumbers which are coming up. Only an inch high but at least I can see them.
This bucket garden is herbs and that one surviving blueberry. I'm over trying to grow blueberries. I have killed too many. Back where Jerica is there are cucumbers and zucchini.
This garden is all in okra. It was seeded over three weeks ago and the plants are barely an inch high. I don't think it's warm enough here to grow okra. I still have hope. I'm not replanting it. I already used three seed packets and replanted one row the chickens scratched up. The box is growing garlic. It seems to be doing well. We harvested all the scapes.
This is my still unplanted garden. It's June 22 and I am still planting. I didn't know what I wanted to put in here and finally decided on potatoes. But then I changed my mind and got two more tomato plants and found some spaghetti squash starts on sale at Walmart. We have to move that compost pile and plant them this weekend. So, no potatoes this year. Well, unless I can still find some seed potatoes and figure out where to put them.
This is where we planted our meat chickens. They are growing very well. They are about three weeks old. I forgot to get a better photo but if you click on this to enlarge it you can probably still see the sunflowers I planted along the fence. I've always wanted to grow something in the chicken pens but couldn't think of a way. They were grown by seed and then transplanted here and put behind the logs and covered with chicken wire. That was so much work! But I will be happy seeing huge sunflowers growing there this summer.... if I can keep the chickens out a little longer they should make it.
This is how big the zucchini are. See how sad everything is this year? So small.
This is cucumbers we planted twice. They are finally giving us a little hope. That zucchini is in this same garden just on this end. Yeah, there are always a lot of weeds.
I think this is bee balm and dill.
These are Yarrow. Finally flowering. I harvested some of the leaves a couple weeks ago and thought I might have killed the plant. It didn't like that. I want to take the flowers but not I'm afraid.
I think this is a butterfly weed, but aren't they supposed to have orange flowers?
Calendula flowers and some unknown plant.
Chives, mint, and a mallow. I'm going to pretend that mallow isn't a weed because I have planted marshmallow seeds for three years and I don't know if this is one of those or a common mallow weed. And I don't know the difference between them.
That big leaved thing in the front is horseradish. I almost killed it by harvesting leaves too. I don't know why. That long bushy row behind is raspberries. I think it needs trimmed but Jentry has her own ideas so I'm staying out of it. And it's full of bees so that's another reason.
This is zucchini. I planted it in three places really hoping for a big crop. This one looks the best but, only two plants.
The rhubarb did very well in this location. Behind it is a gooseberry bush that we never harvest because the berries are very tiny and bitter. The chickens love them though. And the apple trees.
This just ended up being a place without a plan. The sunflowers came up on their own. There are two pots of sage and I think those are onions.
This is that same spot. Some flowers (are those Indian paintbrush?). The little flower is self heal. The greens were planted in a box and then transplanted here way too close together but they're doing well and we are eating them.
This is my only basil now and the bugs are eating it. The one on the right is lavender. I don't want it to die.
These onions showed up but we don't know what kind they are and are letting them go to seed to reproduce, hopefully. I want to eat them now though so we'll see how that goes.
This is the greens garden. I don't know what all the girls planted but most of it is doing ok. I want to cover it before the bugs get into it but I don't have anything. I hope to buy something like reemay soon and cover it.
This old grape vine took a beating this year. We had to take it off the trellis it's been on for many years and roll it up to keep it out of the way of the tree workers trucks. They hit it a couple times anyway, and then we re-trellised it like this. It's not dead but it probably won't make any grapes this year.
This is where the horseradish was in a barrel. When we went to move it we found the barrel didn't have a bottom and the horseradish was growing in the ground. We left it there and the tree trucks drove over it. Then we stepped on it and mowed over it. I decided to protect it since I almost killed the other horseradish. I might be worry. People say it takes over if you let it grow in the ground. But can anything be as bad as mint? What do you think? Should I try to get rid of it before it takes over?
This is baby Choi cabbage. I decided we are never going to try to grow any kind of brassicas again because the bugs eat them all. But I found this package of seeds and I'm going to cover them when I cover the other greens. But look - they are coming up!
I have never succeeded in growing a luffa but I will not stop trying. Here is mine, not coming up. I actually have one tiny leaf coming up near this. Pray for my little luffa.
These are shallots or onions or leeks. I don't know where the marker went.
A mint I shall not pull as long as it behaves.
Leeks I bought as starts. I've never grown them before so I had to. It was a legit need.
Jerica is harvesting some random greens that came up. Since we destroyed our whole garden and all the boxes we were growing in we have found some random things like this. I like it. I don't know what they are, we just give them to the chickens. Behind her is my row of various kinds of peppers. But no bell peppers made it this year.
The jalapenos made it this year though. Can you see three peppers on this plant?
Not sure what kind these are but I'm happy about them.
This one is very long. I am waiting to see if it will turn red.
On the left and right are peas. Those sunflowers in back came up on their own. The squirrel that lives around here will be happy.
It's a weed but what weed? I wish I knew all the weeds.
I gave Jerica the camera to take pictures of the flowers.
Pansies are edible but I hate to pick them. They are the only pretty thing in the garden right now.
These might be marigolds...someday.
I forgot what these are (planted from seed) but I don't think they are going to make it. I also have nasturtiums but she didn't take any photos. Maybe she thought they were weeds. They aren't blooming yet.
This is a comfrey.
That is cardboard in the walkways and wood chips on top of that.
This is squash or melon or zucchini or pumpkin. They are small and sad. We planted them between all the tree stumps all the way down the row. Some died and were re-planted but none of them are growing well at all.
This is a row of corn that was planted and then re-planted and is now kind of coming up. On the left you can see the tree stumps that we planted the above by. Down by Jerica you can see the rhubarb that was ran over repeatedly by the tree bucket truck and still came back. We were very surprised to see it. It came up in the corn row.
This is a row of tomatoes that died and carrots that were planted and re-planted and are finally coming up a little. I was afraid they would never come up so I put a tow of buckwheat beside them. That is coming up well. I just wanted something that would flower. There aren't many bees around anymore. Just in the raspberries.
Another view of the row of stumps. We planted all the way down to the road.
Rhubarb and corn.
You can see the plants between stumps. Pretty much everything is nearly dead except pumpkins. The pumpkins look like they might make it but who knows if they will produce anything.
After the tree trucks this whole yard was nothing but compacted dirt. Instead of planting grass we planted pumpkins there by the stumps. Amazingly the grass grew back. It never was the best grass (lots of weeds in it) so I won't mind at all if the pumpkins cover it.
The pictures got a bit mixed up. I think this is marigolds we planted from seed.
I think this is a weed but I like it.
These are the tomatoes.
There are beans beyond the tomatoes and also the row beside the tomatoes. The far left row is all flowers but not all are doing well.
Flowers and two rows of peas. The peas weren't doing well so I had a closer look and found the seeds on top of the dirt. Whoever planted them must have planted too shallow. We covered them up and they look a lot better.
This is just a clematis that we planted probably 15 years ago and totally neglect. I tried taking care of it and almost killed it, so I leave it alone.
This little bush I think is a currant. It's got tiny red berries that aren't super sour. It has been transplanted three times and I thought it would die. I hope it lives.
I don't know anything about growing flowers so I got these cute little flowers and put them in this big bed. Next year I might put those hollyhocks in it instead of little flowers.
These are some of the flowers in there. I don't know what any of them are anymore.
Did you know petunias are also edible?
These are those red canna flowers that get really tall. I probably won't save them after this year since you have to dig them up and store them inside and they took up too much space all last winter. I'm also a little worried that we might need to store a lot of pumpkins. I am only growing them to feed chickens all winter (the pumpkins, not the cannas).
More cannas, more comfrey, and a little bush that had pretty orange flowers for a short time. Jentry says it's an azalea. I need to research how to take care of it.
This is hollyhocks and the shorter (but still tall) plant is anise hyssop. It smells like black licorice. We harvest the leaves for tea. It will get purple flowers that the bees love. There were also tulips in this area earlier.
This is some firewood some people said they would come for. Ahem.
Long story about these tires so just ignore them. I don't even know whats in this bed. I actually think there might be some irises that didn't bloom this year because we transplanted them. Is there any hope they still might bloom?
This is right by the porch and gets pretty much full shade. The impatiens are from the nursery. We tried to grow them from seed and they didn't come up at all. This bed was full of tulips and when they died back I planted fave beans so that's what's coming up now. I'm not going to use the beans, I'm just using them as ground cover. Hopefully they will flower.
This is the view from my bedroom window. I've always wished I had a little deck to sit on here instead of a tiny window I have to stand by. This is by far the best view from any window in our house, even in winter.
