Thursday, July 30, 2009

Our Garden 2009

We realized the other day that we hadn't posted anything about our garden this year. This is really surprising because our home improvement project was to redo the patio this year. I really like how it turned out. The tall side fence was solid when we moved in, but we took down the slats and Sam reattached them in the open pattern here so that we can get some sunlight and air in the back. There were pavers covering the 2nd half of the patio, but between Maggie being out there (ew!) and the fact that they were not put on a bed of anything, they had to go. We put some sand and pea gravel in instead. Sam built me the large planter. Didn't he do a beautiful job!! And you've got to love my city, Lee's Summit gives away compost for free! So that's what we filled it with. This year we started with plants from Wal-Mart. I won't do that again. While some plants are doing well (the zucchini, tomatoes & cantaloupe) others look sick and/or strange. The cucumbers are curling. It's so strange. In all the times I've grown cucumbers, I've never had them grow like this. The one I picked last week looked like a Zat gun! Next year, I will plant from seed and go for a bush variety. The butternut squash looks terrible.
(it doesn't help that when it was growing across the ground, Maggie trampled it one day), but it is really producing. At last count, we had 6 squash growing! I thought the zucchini would never produce, it kept blooming flowers and then dying, but we finally have 3 zucchini growing. I LOVE NATURE, it's so cool as long as I don't have to spend too much time in it! The green beans have been my biggest disappointment. They really look sick. I wonder if they need fertilizer or something. I'll have to try a different variety next year. I planted the peppers by the tomatoes, but I don't think they get enough sun since the tomatoes went crazy!!! I've already majorly cut them back once, and I may do it again before the season it over. Then comes the canteloupe. I think that's the prettiest plant we have. We've already had to redirect it from taking over the tomato cages and Maggie's doghouse. We have about 5 canteloupe growing. Here's the pickle, only Sam eats canteloupe! For me they are a definite YUCK!! I'm going to have to research ways of preserving canteloupe or give them away. Any suggestions?
I had to include this photo b/c I really like the squash flowers and you can see a new squash growing in the uppper left side.
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