Some years, as we drive the familiar roads home from holiday, the haze out towards the mountain range and the brown, dry grass along roads and footpaths, signals the lack of rain since we've been gone. I know the garden will be parched and dry when we arrive home and that there won't be much to harvest. Happily this year, the grass along the roadsides and on verges is lush and green and so is my garden. 💚
It was wonderful coming home to fresh veg in the garden ready to be picked and eaten. Such a contrast to those years when we've arrived home after little or no rain. The liquid gold from the sky makes such a difference in the garden!
What's growing in your garden at the moment?
Meg
After a couple of weeks of storms and rain, the veggies have all thrived. The cherry tomatoes and the cucumbers are just waiting to be tossed into salads. Although the leaves of the celery are the favoured fare of bright green grasshoppers (clearly they heard no-one was home so decided to move in) the stalks are just fine. Little golden beets, planted in a grow bag, are beginning to form and so are the butter beans. A rampant pumpkin vine has filled in the top corner around the bird bath. Such abundant growth!
The top of a tiny golden beet.
Little butter beans.
A fresh & crunchy cucumber.
Un-munched celery stalks.
A cluster of little cherry tomatoes.
Lots of lettuce for salads.
Our enthusiastic pumpkin vine.
It was wonderful coming home to fresh veg in the garden ready to be picked and eaten. Such a contrast to those years when we've arrived home after little or no rain. The liquid gold from the sky makes such a difference in the garden!
What's growing in your garden at the moment?
Meg
Meg it has been wet, hasn't it? Our place is overrun with weeds at the moment from the recent storms. We have lots of cucumbers and the chillies are going crazy. My zucchinis aren't doing as as well as they were as the dreaded mildew has arrived. Still it is nice to see the rain.
ReplyDeleteIt sure has been wet, Chel! Great for the garden. I really didn't plant a lot thinking the Summer would be hot and dry like the last one. I'm going to have to get better with long range forecasts. Cucumbers are stars in the garden here, even more so with so much rain. I have lots of little baby ones forming on vines I planted to follow the earlier ones. Might even need to make pickled cucumbers. No zucchini in this year, probably won't given the mildew would thrive in the moist conditions. Not sure what I'll plant next. Meg:)
DeleteYour plants always look so lush and healthy.
ReplyDeleteSadly there's very little growing in my garden at the moment, I've given up veggie growing in summer, it's too hot, too humid, to wet/dry or too windy! And we always seem to go away over summer, so no one is around to water anything. I think I'll replant the first week the kids go back to school, at least I know I'll be home to care for it!
Like you, I decided I wouldn't plant much this Summer because it's so challenging a season in the garden - I expected it would be really hot and dry like last Summer. The rain is at the heart of the current abundance. Otherwise I don't think there'd be much to harvest. Meg:)
DeleteGoodmorning Meg, hasn’t the rain been a blessing,we got 32mm last night, love it, it means I won’t need to water for a while. I didn’t plant much this spring/summer due to not having a lot of time to devote to the garden. I have had quite a few cherry tomatoes plants come up by themselves and have been picking from them every third day or so and my herbs have gone a nuts with the rain and heat, you should see my mint, it jumped out of the garden years ago and grows wild in the gravel along the back path. My lemon and lime tree are loaded with fruit and the Surinam spinach and Mustard green have all self seeded, again in the gravel next to the side of the house. This year, I have decided just to let the garden do it’s thing as I find the moment I start fussing the plants turn up their toes. Thanks for the update of your garden and I hope you have a lovely day.
ReplyDeleteFi
We had a lovely storm roll through last night, Fi. I love not having to water the garden. Great that you have plants self-seeding and growing happily. Wherever I turn here at the moment there are cherry tomatoes and lettuce self seeding, basil too which is great because my native bees love basil flowers! There are baby mandarins on our tree but sadly no lemon tree. Just down the road though, at the start of our bike path, a neighbours lime tree overhangs the fence and he has said that I can pick as many limes as I want if I can reach them. I usually come home from a walk with the dog with one in my pocket! Meg:)
DeleteYour veggies are looking very happy Meg. Its amazing what rain will do. My plants grow right before my eyes when we have rain.
ReplyDeletexTania
The grass is growing right before our eyes, Tania. It seems to need cutting again right after it's been mowed. Keeps hubby busy! Meg:)
DeleteLooks great
ReplyDeleteIt is looking good out in the garden this Summer. A stark contrast to last Summer's hot and very dry conditions. How's your garden growing?
DeleteMeg
Your produce looks so lush, I love salad from the garden, although our aviary has taken over the growing area, I shall always still grow salad leaves, tomatoes etc in pots. x
ReplyDeleteI have been growing lettuce in grow bags, Marlene, and that is working out really well. Homegrown salad is the best! Meg:)
DeleteYour garden looks fantastic! Right now I'm harvesting lettuce, lemons, navel oranges, and blood oranges. The artichoke plants are getting huge. We haven't had any rain here in Southern California. I mulch heavily, and water by hand.
ReplyDeleteWe mulch heavily too, Stephenie. It really helps keep moisture in the soil. The rain we've had is wonderful because it's been heavy, soaking rain and it means we don't need to hand water the garden. Lovely that you have citrus for harvesting. What do you cook with the oranges and lemons you grow? Meg:)
DeleteYour garden looks so lovely and productive! It is the Winter here in the Northern Hemisphere and the United States so nothing is growing in the garden at the moment but I continue to throw my banana peels out and around my roses. Roses love banana peels and I have noticed that my roses have thrived in the Spring if I continue doing this over the Winter months.
ReplyDeleteI put banana peels around my roses too, Debbie. Meg:)
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