July Garden Musings

When I wrote at the end of May about needing patience in gardening, I didn't know that we were going to have the rainiest June on record and that planting was going to be more delayed than I had even imagined!

But I persevered, catching windows of time here and there in between rain storms to continue planting. I had taken a workshop a few years ago about soil and it was drilled into me not to work soil that is wet. I tried very hard to follow that, but wet soil was the norm in June.

The perennials were all planted and the gardens mulched. Slugs have appeared in abundance and seem to love cilantro, but I've been trying to control them with an organic product that seems to be working. The garlic was the only thing that was able to be planted last year, and it seems very happy. The currants transplanted well this Spring and are fully of berries, providing a pretty backdrop to the garlic. And bordering it is lemon balm, which after all the construction came back up on it's own!

The plant search continues with some spots needing "just the right" plant. I searched all over for an apothecary rose (rosa gallica), an old heirloom traditionally used by herbalists and ended up buying one online. It is small but seems very healthy. I know it will grow large, so there are a lot of annuals around it round now, as is the case with many of the perennials that were planted. I just don't like the look of lots of mulch and the annuals are adding a lot of color and interest, Here's a picture of my small little rose bush before the annuals were planted...

And now mid-July, the garden is looking good. The Hot Kaps that I used were wonderful and I've already picked a 10" zuchinni from the plants I started from seed. I was so proud of it (see picture) and my husband even remarked with amazement "that's from our garden?" The bed I had with the zuchinni and pumpkins is overflowing and there should be a good crop of both this year.

And the espaliered apple tree that I put in 5 years ago has apples for the first time! When the garden was redone we discussed taking the tree out, but I'm so glad now that it stayed. The apples are a bit hard to see in the picture, but they're there!



How is your garden growing this year? Feel free to post comments and pictures!