Here we are already past the middle part of the month and I am only just getting around to chronicling events in the garden. Time is somewhat unreal right now. It’s because I am spending so much more time in the garden than writing about it. It seems like there is always so much to do…weeding, harvesting, replanting lettuce and fall greens, pruning, pulling out spent spring annuals, cutting plants back in hopes they will re-bloom, and watering. We don’t get any summer rain and I don’t have an automatic watering system. I know I should put one in but I get enjoyment out of the constant checking. Do they need more water? What about mulch and compost? Are there any bugs damaging them? What about snails and slugs? It’s a full time job and time is something I have in abundance at the present.
So, how is my garden growing? The lush spring bloom is over and fall plants are starting to take over. Here is a glimpse.
The vegetable garden is still producing zucchini, snap and snow peas, cucumbers and the first green beans.
Covering the raised beds with shade cloth or plastic has created different climate zones. Cucumbers have not been successful in past years.
July 2020 Fort Bragg Vegetable garden raised beds
And for the first time I have tomatoes!!!! Although bets are still out if they will actually ripen.
Green tomatoes
The pollinator garden is still going strong although I have had to water it this year. There are lots of native bumblebees all through the garden, they especially seem to like the lavender plants.
Lavender
That’s all for now…back to watering. I will see you next month. How is your garden doing?
Stay well and happy gardening.
If you have any gardening questions or want to know details about a particular plant, please leave a comment or email me. I’d love to hear from you.
Time spent in one’s garden is always a special time. I also love to hand water. Even when I had my large garden that was irrigated, I would only turn on the irrigation system when we traveled. Tomatoes here are impossible unless you have a hot house and zucchini produce poorly if at all. But, we had a good berry season and the apples look to be a bumper crop this year.
Love your images of the garden as always…
Thank you Ron. I think the plastic covering on the raised bed mimics a greenhouse. Fingers crossed that the green tomatoes ripen. I haven’t planted any berries although they do well here, I keep thinking about planting an apple tree. I’ve seen ones with several varieties of apples on one tree. I am afraid that with only the two of us most of them would go to waste. What do you do with excess apples?
Leftover apples never happen here as the bulk of the harvest goes to making apple hard-cider. We also make a lot of non-sweeten apple sauce and preserve it. Then it is used for baking through the year. We don’t do all of this alone as it an annual family (3 families) affair.
That sounds like a wonderful tradition.
This year everything has gone nuts at my house!! It’s been so darned hot I just haven’t been able to tolerate weeding and of course, they are growing like weeds, lol!! Loved seeing your pics. I’m in the boring part of summer for my yard I’m afraid. I’ll have to do something about that!! Take care Liz!
Thanks Mollie, I have a very narrow comfort range with heat and cold, your climate would not work for me. My garden would be all weeds. My boring part of the year is late fall, everything just looks sad.
That’s when my asters kick in! But I do love late fall after the leaves have fallen and the trees are dark contrast to the skies…lot’s of people think it’s bleak but I love the subtle nuances in the fields…I’m wishing for some of that chill right now, lol!
Garden time well spent it looks like and the sort of garden I would enjoy wandering through. I especially like your pollinator garden, and would like to create something similar. We have had reasonable pickings winter tomatoes… when they’ve changes colour slightly we test if they are ready to be picked by if come off the vine without much effort, then ripen them in bowl in the kitchen. We have limited success with zucchini and cucumber – we get a few at the start but being subtropical zone fungus is quick to find the leaves no matter what remedies we try.
I try and have two plantings of zucchini as the powdery mildew gets to them. It’s the summer fog that does them in.
I bet you do get ripe tomatoes. You can bring the ones in that are still green at the first mention of frost, wrap them in paper, put them in a box or basket and they usually will ripen too.
I have had some ripe ones!!! Yipee! I brought them in a little early and they are still ripening on the counter. I will post an update soon with pictures. First we had to catch the voles that were eating them as soon as they showed the slightest sign of pink.