Garden panoramas

Well, I've taken the end of August panorama and I thought I'd show off the progression of the back garden through this spring and summer.

April

I didn't have the idea of doing the panoramas at first, so the mid-April pictures are actually two sets that didn't overlap enough to allow them to be stitched together.

Mid April left side of hill

Mid April right side of hill

The early daffodils really stand out against the red mulch.

Late April

Beginning to see where the bigger elements of the garden are returning to the spring garden.

May

Mid May

Beginning to see the Azaleas in the center show their color.

Late May

By late May there has been a lot of growth and filling in, even the vegetable garden on the far right is showing growth.

June

Mid June

In June we started seeing the Primrose and the Rose Campion - bunches of yellow and pinkish red.

Late June

July

Mid July

By mid July we were seeing a LOT of the green spikey plants all over, but particularly in the center - blocking our view of the butterfly bushes..

Late July

I made a decision that the green spikey things were weeds - they were taking over and growing so big that we couldn't see much else. - except the mutant tomato bushes taking over the vegetable garden.  There are only 3 tomato bushes in that garden over there on the right.

August

Mid August

It was a very mild August, very few days in the 90's and none that I can remember in the 100's. Everything continued to thrive, but we don't have much blossoming out back in the late summer.  We had a very healthy hibiscus in the front yard, but those pictures are in other posts.

Late August

August has continued mild (a little hot this week, but nothing to complain about.) The mutatnt tomato plants are still going strong - we're getting between a pint and a quart of cherry tomatoes almost every day.

September and October

There will still be plenty to do and more tomatoes to harvest, but the major flowering and gardening for this season is winding down.  I'm already making plans for next year, but this project has given me a longer perspective on the cycles of the garden through the Spring and Summer months.  I need to find some more late blooming plants o help fill out all the greenery of August and September.

Harvesting the goodness

We started a project earlier this summer - a vegetable garden.  I put in a 4'x4' raised bed for vegetables.  The bottom half of the soil is simple top soil. The top half is Miracle-Grow vegetable soil.  That mix has really worked, and I've gotten to combine my new found passion for the garden with my longstanding love of food and food related activity.

In other word - the garden has exploded.

It started out with what we thought would be a modest mix of tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, and a pepper plant.  (The pepper plant [front left plant above] has disappeared - hasn't been seen in months - totally overwhelmed by sun stealing neighbors.)

Now we have:

The lettuce have been eaten and we are almost done with the zucchini and cucumbers.  But as the heat of summer is developing, so are the tomatoes.

But first a few memories of the cooler days.

We've had vegetables fresher than anything we could ever find, even at the farmers markets or road side stands we've been visiting for years. It's been a challenge to live up to the freshness of the ingredients and find ways to prepare them.  I will admit that this summer I have started munching on raw cucumbers, just cutting some up with a sandwich or burger/hot dog.

But the heat of August is here, and the tomatoes have arrived.

These will be ready in the next week or two.  Right now we are getting cherry tomatoes and some of the earlier ripe varietals.

And just today my wife went out and came back with this bowl of beauty.

I don't know how we're going to tackle it yet - but we'll try to rise to the challenge.