In Bloom

Besides all the veggie things going on, many of the other plants in the yard are in bloom.

More volunteer violas in the lawn.

Calendula

Lots of blooms developing on the Coral Honeysuckle.

Oakleaf Hydrangea

Even the lavender is blooming.

Beans

I ripped out, prepped (added a bag of compost), and planted the last raised bed area today.  Three sqft areas are sown with Dragon Tongue Beans, and the other six sqft are 3 rows of Thai Purple Podded Yard Long Beans.  Once they start coming up, I'll add straw for mulch and add trellises.

The potatoes have not bloomed and are looking wilty some days.  I moved them to get a little more sun and have been watering them better.  Hopefully that will help.

The sugar snap peas are about done.  I will probably remove them and transplant the cucumber seedlings next week.  I did get a few meals out of the peas.  I would plant them again next year.

Recent Harvest:

Sugar Snap Peas, Thymes, Sage, Mints (drying now)

Coriander Seeds (drying now)

I'm excited about the coriander seeds. The plant bloomed constantly for the past few months, and I hated to pull it up today to have room for the beans, but it had quite a few seeds to save for either planting this winter or grinding as spice.

Moving Ahead + Critters

I still haven't prepped the last raised bed area for beans, but everything else is moving along.  Just look at the tomatoes!

Black Prince

Cherokee Purple

Black Cherry

Berkley Pink Tye Dye

The two Jaune Flamme tomato plants look far behind compared to all of these, but I did finally stake them today.

The first Calendula is in bloom with a few more blooms to follow. They take forever to open... almost a week from this stage:

To this stage:

With those and all the zinnias in bloom, the tomato planters look very cheerful.

One of the eggplants is also putting out blooms. So they're doing better than any of the eggplants I tried last year, haha!

Meanwhile, there are more and more critters appearing in the garden.  So far, most are beneficial (or harmless anyway), like several ladybugs.  This Fir Tussock Moth (Orgyia detrita) must have fallen from the oak tree above the potato plant.

And this crane fly was resting on one of the tomato plants.  The crane fly larvae feed on decaying-organic matter, so are beneficial to the garden.  The adults don't eat or do anything but mate.

And it looks like a female hummingbird has returned to the yard.

She flew from the feeder bottle over to the tomato blooms today but was pretty confused by them, I think. I'm not sure tomato blooms have much to offer a hummingbird.  Hopefully she'll find the pentas or try the coral honeysuckle on another visit.

Blooming Natives

The Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is in bloom.  It puts out a lot of new growth in the spring.  This year, there are quite a few bloom clusters that should put on an extended showy display.  The hummingbirds certainly love this native plant, and I have my feeder hanging nearby to supplement.

The Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is preparing at least 3 blooms.  I added it to the yard last year, so this is its first year blooming.  I'm hoping to be able to divide the plant as it gets older, but that will be at least a couple of years.

And finally, the Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) has 3+ bloom spikes this year.  They are just starting to bloom and last quite a long time.  It seems like a slow plant... slow to lose its leaves in winter, slow for the blooms to develop and fade, etc.  It certainly explodes with bright, soft new leaves in early spring though!

Cucumbers

I've started some cucumbers today.  I would just direct sow them, but the container isn't ready (sugar snap peas).  Don't want them to get behind, so starting them was the solution.  Hopefully they will transplant well.

The coriander/cilantro plant is still blooming madly.  I've got to get that bed ready for beans soon.

Nine Days

Upon returning after 9 days absence...

Mints and Scented Geraniums have gone wild.

The squash and Dragon Tongue beans have come up.

Tomatoes are bigger and more fruit has set.

The zinnias are blooming.

So many Chamomile blooms.

A nice meal of sugar snap peas is ready.

Hearts

The angelwing begonia blooms look like little pink hearts from the side.

Recently

A few photos of the garden taken in the past week or so...

All the tomatoes went into containers

Also planted a few containers with squash and beans.

Just before I pulled them up, the last of the fall bunching onions were in bloom.

Sugar snap peas, a day or two before picking.

German Camomile I'm hoping to use in tea.

One blooming zinnia, companion to a tomato.

I added straw mulch to keep the raised bed cool and moist.

Quick Growing

The native hibiscus is getting taller and taller, and the Cardinal Flower is looking very healthy.

The Natives Return

Here are a few photos of some of the returning native plants this year. 

Ashe's Magnolia, still a tiny stick.  It throws out a handful of small, soft leaves each spring.

This is Purple Coneflower I planted last year.  It looks like it's heading for a bloom or two!

I have a mix of native Coreopsis (Lanceleaf and Leavenworth's) that are slowly spreading.

The two Butterfly Weeds (milkweed) I planted last year are coming back.

This is a native Beardtongue (Penstemon) I also added last year.

Bad photo, but the Coral Honeysuckle is forming blooms.

This should be a Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea) coming back, but there is also some Spanish Needle (Bidens alba) in the area.  They have similar leaves.  Guess we'll see.

Final Tomatoes, Squash, Dragon Tongue Beans

I got the last of the tomatoes planted today (Jaune Flamme x2 and I put a couple of leftover Black Cherry tomatoes in a single container... I just didn't have anywhere else to put them), along with some zucchini and yellow squash.  To be honest, I am not putting much hope in the squash after what happened last year-- I fully expect the vine borers to get them even if I use Bt liberally.  But I am trying to grow them in a tomato cage to keep their foliage off of the soil surface and ground (mainly because I'm curious to see how that will do).  I also planted some Dragon Tongue beans around the tomato cage so they can use that as a trellis.  That way, even if the squash fail, those containers should produce some beans at least.

I still have to clean out the north raised bed.  There's a couple of sugar snap pea plants in there, and there are peas on it, so I want to let that produce first. I may just plant that entire bed with beans anyway.

I bought a bale of straw to put down as mulch on the raised beds.  The peppers and eggplants are doing well so far, but I can tell they get hot and dry rather quickly.  My goal is to get the south bed mulched this week.  I haven't decided if I want to plant the last 3 small pepper plants I grew from seed yet though or not.

I moved the dry herb garden next to the porch so it would get more light.  The angle of the sun and the oak trees leafing out was keeping them in the shade too much.  I also planted a couple more things in the wet herb garden: celery (which may not even last as it will probably be too hot for it) and lemon verbena.  I also potted a German Chamomile plant separately, and I'm looking to get some dill.

I've planted some (store-bought) zinnias in with a few tomatoes, and I bought some more marigold seeds and planted those in with some tomatoes, too.  The zinnias I grew from seed need planting soon.  I may add some to the south raised bed and pot the rest.  A few marigolds I started earlier also came up, so probably more to add to the tomatoes soon.

I bought a few more pollinator plants, including another red penta.  I bought a metal tub and turned it into a planter for yellow petunias, yellow & pink striped million bells, and pink purslane.  All three are trailing plants, so I think they will look good in the planter when they fill out better.  Not sure I have seen a yellow trailing petunia before!

Of course, I still want more petunias, if I can find any I like.

I haven't done anything with the pallet bed this season. I suppose I could clean it out and put in my seed-started zinnias there.  We'll see...