Garden Update - July

My garden is growing like crazy and I am so totally happy with it!
















We've had a LOT of rain the past couple of months.. way more than we normally have, and way less sun and hot days. So my veggies and plants are getting all the moisture they need, and now we just need some heat!

There have been a couple of really nice days in between all of the rain and I can definitely tell thats what everything in the garden wants because it seems like they all double in size that day.

I'm happy to say that almost everything I started as a seed had survived and is still growing. My pansies are kind of pathetic and I'm not going to waste my time on them again next year.

I had a few flowers & herbs that didn't even germinate and it may just be due to the fact that they were old seeds.. or they just didn't like me.

I found an amazing deal online at Costco.ca where you get a package of "bare root" plants. I was kind of skeptical, but I asked my mom what she thought and she said to go for it and that even if only half of them survived it would be a great deal. One of the packages was 15 Hosta's (my mom also got this one) for $39.99. My mom said she's paid that much for just 1, so you can see how it was hard to pass up.

The other package I got was called the "Effortless Perennial Garden" and you get 75 perennial plants for $76.99. (Perennial means they'll come back every year, so you don't need to buy them again). The number is high because there was a couple packages of 20 bulbs - but it's still a LOT of plants.

This is what they look like when they're shipped:

They really are just a bare root with a tiny bit of life poking out at the top. You plant them with a mixture of bone meal and peat moss, and then sit back and wait. I think out of all 90 plants I ordered, only about 7 or 8 kicked the bucket and didn't come up. Isn't that incredible??



So here's the garden in it's current state. I'm very happy with it. I know parts of it don't look like much this year, but I can envision what all of the perennials will look like next year when everything fills in and blooms up.


This is the 2nd year for my lavendar and it's going nuts - I'm not complaining though because it smells soooo good. I think I'll have to move it next year though - it doesn't have much more room to grow here.


My peas are almost full-grown. I've had about 5 handfuls off of them so far - so delicious. You haven't lived until you've eaten fresh garden peas!





This year my mom suggested that I plant nastursiums along the wall. They're pretty perfect for this kind of space. Soon they'll be trailing over the wall, and the first flowers just opened up.





Baskets; as you can see I've set them up with irrigation which is a total godsend.







Basil (grown from seed) is also going nuts now - yay!



I dug up my mint last year that was in my garden bed because it was taking over.. I wish I had read before I planted it that you probably want to put it in a pot because of that. This is much better. I don't have to worry about it pushing any other plants out of the way.



This bed still doesn't look like much, but there's 12 perennials planted in there that will look great next year when they get big and bloom. There's also some grass trying to make it's way back up and I have to constantly keep raking it away.. very annoying.




Vegetable bed:



Edamame beans growing at the back where the netting is; spaghetti squash in front.



My little tomato plant that I grew from seed. It's still very much alive and it's getting flowers now, but at this moment I'm not happy with the size of it. There's tomatoes 10 times the size of this in other people's gardens right now.. humph.



Broccoli. Any broccoli plants that I've seen are right down on the ground, so I really have no idea why mine have a big stalk.. we'll see if they actually turn into anything.



Salad mix:



Peppers:






Romaine:




Onions:



Carrots:





These were the first peas I planted, but they weren't coming up so I planted the ones over by the house. They did finally come up after about 3 weeks, but it still looks like the ones by the house are in a better place because these guys are a little bit pathetic.





What do you think of my Buddha? I fell in love with him when I saw him at Winners - and he was only $20! He looks so peaceful sitting there with little grasses all around him.




We also finally had someone come and chop the fence posts off and bevel them. And then Danny went around and put up our lights - they look awesome at night.




So that's where it stands right now. I'm hoping we'll get some great weather now and that everything will just grow, grow, grow!

...here's some lazy dudes to send you on your way. Because being a dog is damn hard work.