How your garden DOES grow!

I said from the beginning that my goal with the garden this year was to get the bulk of the "construction" piece done and if we could get anything to actually grow that would be a bonus.

We mostly got the "construction" done. 15,000 pounds of rock, trellis system, seriously raised beds, 10 yards of dirt schlepped in, etc. We still have to do the patio and throw pretty bark mulch down over dirt in some places, but that doesn't really affect how or what grows.

As for all the "bonus" material - we definitely had some flops. Peas, it turns out, are quite particular about being planted in early spring and quite definitely feel June is far too late (close minded little vegetables.) Potatoes are similarly stubborn and have protested being planted 2-4 months late (depending on what method you follow) by not doing anything.

However, we have also had some wild success. The ground cover I'd hoped would come together by next spring is running rampant, my bush beans have been producing for weeks now (they aren't even supposed to DO that!) and we even have grapes on the freshly planted grape vine that has climbed from 2ft in height to 6ft in two months. That comes to about an inch a day!

And then there is the squash.... Everyone warns you. Three squash plants is two plants too many. I got a little enthusiastic though. The friggin' squirrel dug up the first round I planted so about mid-June I replanted and ended up with half a garden of voracious squash plants. I also ended up with multiple squash plants I didn't even plant. I'm not sure if Mr. Squirrel dropped the seeds somewhere or if the compost from our own kitchen scraps we spread contained the little time bombs.

This is my favorite squash plant. Didn't plant it, not sure what it is. It has run away to about 6 ft long now with 2 dozen flowers and it grows a few inches every day. I'm thinking it is some sort of winter squash and have my fingers crossed that it is butternut or acorn!

We definitely have more work to do, though not nearly as much as we have done, but I'm pretty happy with what we have so far.



Next up - some chairs so we can actually sit out there and enjoy it all!