Garden Girl Gabs Vol. 4

Late July in the garden-

The grammar in the meme is incorrect, but the sentiment is spot on! (Yes, I know that ending a sentence with a preposition is wrong but I'm writing in a colloquial style so I think it's ok :) "Everyday" should be "Every day" based on the context. I notice numerous grammatical mistakes with memes. What is the deal? I guess the mistakes are accurate reflections of the state of many people's ignorance of grammatical rules. I know there's a way to make your own memes but that is not knowledge/ know how that I'm interested in acquiring at this point in my life so I will copy others' memes, mistakes notwithstanding...

Anywho (also, not really a word but it's something that I say...), back to the sentiment of the meme- yes, that's exactly what I'm like these late July days! How fun to go to the garden areas and see what's ripe and what is growing. Even though sometimes (foreshadowing…) what you see in the garden is not positive. My post meme pre post preamble:

I don't know how often I'll write a post like this but my goal is somewhat regularly over the course of this growing season. It's really for me more than anything- a garden journal of sorts for me to keep track of what has happened and when (approximately) in the garden. And, naturally (pardon the pun!) some thoughts about what I've learned either through observation or doing research regarding a particular plant. But, if I pass along any information that helps someone or inspires anyone to plant a seed and take a chance with nothing much to lose, then that would be lovely, too 😀

This past week was different for me because I was out of town for several days. I was quite curious to see how the plants would change in my absence. I gave the plants a good soaking before I left as there was no rain in the forecast.  I didn't ask Donnie to water the garden while I was gone; I figured (hoped) the plants would be ok without water. I considered asking Donnie to water for me and I would have asked him had I been gone longer. However, I'm pretty particular about how I water the plants and decided to chance it. I did water almost as soon as I arrived home from out of town. And then a storm blew in the evening that we returned, and we received a nice rain, albeit as part of a ferocious thunderstorm. I was thrilled with the rain and the fact that we didn't lost power as many did near us. 

Flowers:

Not the prettiest of times at the house, unfortunately. None of the lilies are in bloom right now. Some of the daises are in bloom but many are not. Alyssums have sprung up here and there but I'm overall not too impressed by the state of the flowers and I have no pictures of them.

Herbs:

Nothing has changed in the last two weeks. I'm down to just dill and have plenty of it. Too bad my dill needs/wants are so few.

Vegetables:

Here's how the garden looked on Wednesday, July 29

Peppers: I've only picked a few peppers in the past two weeks but there are definitely more coming. I picked the first of the red hot chili peppers and there are plenty more on the one red hot chili pepper plant that I have. A couple of bell peppers are almost ripe but I've picked none so far. 

Zucchini: Most of the plants have died :(

Cucumbers: I've picked a few and have many more coming, thank goodness. It was definitely a good idea to plant many seeds to get a good number of plants. A few plants are not prolific at all and are starting to die. 

Cucumber gone bad...

Three decent sized ones are here and there are probably twenty or so more tiny ones growing on various plants. 

Tomatoes- A few tomatoes are almost ripe but I've picked none so far (it's really late in the season to have none so far but it is what it is)

This is by far the biggest cluster of plants (and frankly, they're way too close together). There are probably at least 100 lil' tomatoes growing here :). I have tomato plants in other locations as well. When it rains, it's gonna pour tomatoes :).

Sweet corn: it was a good idea and I've loved seeing the stalks grow and ears of corn on the stalks. However, the corn is proving to be enticing to the local vermin, and I wouldn't be surprised if the corn is consumed while it's still ripening. 

I saw this about a week ago in the garden. The corn should not be exposed! Some "thing" started to shuck the corn. 

Also, some thing  moved part of the leaves/silk- it's on the garden railing. 

On Wednesday, the weather was perfect so I sat outside on the patio. I almost always sit where I can see the fountain. I brought paperwork outside so I was looking down at it when I heard the sound of stalks rustling. I looked up and saw this SQUIRREL in the act of desecrating one of the corn stalks. You can't see the detail in the picture (the squirrel is on the garden ledge) but that squirrel was eating MY CORN 😖. When I got up to photograph the miscreant in the act, he (or she) ran off. UGH! 

And so, I don't think garden fresh (from my garden anyway) corn is in the future but that's ok. I enjoyed seeing the corn grow and I guess I'm doing my good deed for the vermin 😆

Having critters eat garden produce really makes me thankful for grocery stores and I have a renewed sense of awe for the early settlers who supplied their own food; if a crop or plant was destroyed, they didn't eat. I have the luxury of merely being annoyed by it. And it isn't like vermin was any less hungry in the olden times and wouldn't eat anything it could get a hold of to consume. 

 Gourds:

I love looking out one of our kitchen window and seeing these plants thrive:

Up close- no fruit yet :(

...but the plants sure are pretty!