Didn't make a whole lot of progress in the garden this year. With such a hot and dry summer it was enough just to keep what we had growing watered and protected. Why more people do not dedicate a small portion of their property for growing vegetables and herbs baffles me. With the same amount of effort it takes to manicure, fertilize, weed and landscape your average suburban backyard you can have a nice size garden and provide your house with fresh food that you know exactly what went into making it grow. If done right a modest food producing garden can be part of your existing landscape and not even take away from your yard. Its also rewarding to spend some "dirt time" in the garden and away from the television and internet (of course I say that as I'm posting this on an internet blog...but i think you get my point).
With less water then you might expect cucumber do fantastic! In just a few weeks after sprouting...
Eventually to these beauties....
Last year had a couple of great melons to harvest. Unfortunately some rodents got to enjoy them before I did. I will be cutting it close this year with this one...hopefully get a couple small melons before winter.
The herb box is nearly out of control. Thyme, chives, spearmint, oregano, chocolate mint, sage, rosemary and lavender pictured here. Four or five mint leaves steeped for about 7-10 minutes makes a great tea. My other favorite is the lemon verbena which is growing in another box you can see in the background.
As always plenty of these guys keeping busy in the garden...
Southwestern Ironclad beetle...
Beautiful pictures. That's a happy bee.
ReplyDelete