Isle Royale coastline, Michigan, Lake Superior

AT THE WATER’S EDGE:

LIVING LIFE AND LEARNING ALL I CAN ALONG THE WAY

Adventures in Gardening – This Year's Progress to Date

Well, seeing as though it’s almost July, I thought it would be time for a gardening update!  I have been enjoying my gardens quite a bit this year, have already harvested some out of my vegetable garden and have seen lots of new flowers blooming this year in my perennial garden.

The vegetables I planted late this year — at least later than last year — since we had such a cold spring.  However, shortly after I planted everything, it spiked into 90 degree weather (and then back again!).  My plants haven’t seemed to mind, though, and we’ve been getting plenty of rain.  I planted my seeds at the end of May, and you can see what my garden now looks like a little over a month later.  I did break down and buy a few tomato and pepper plants, so you will see some of those are larger than the others. 
 I got some spinach, many more strawberries than last year and tons of snow peas–which are still coming!  Now I am waiting on peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, green beans, zucchini and watermelon.  The green beans are flowering, so I’m hoping that means there’s not too much longer!  I did plant way too much zucchini, but I was a little disappointed at my crop last year, so I decided to plant a lot.  I may end up with a plethora.  My concern now is that the plants are going to overtake the broccoli and the watermelon, though.  I haven’t quite convinced myself to properly space my plants yet.  They just seem so far apart when you first plant them 😉
tomatoes, spinach, peas
I discovered a few plants that re-seeded themselves from last year: tomatoes, cilantro and parsley!  The parsley is actually from 2+ years ago.  I had this bunch of parsley that basically refused to die or to flower.  It lasted all winter indoors, and I finally planted it last spring.  Of course, as soon as it was in the ground it quickly flowered and/or died.  I was surprised the other day to realize that everything I thought was cilantro, in fact, was not!  The parsley that wouldn’t die lives on…sort of.
I am very excited about my perennial garden this year.  When we moved into our house a couple years ago, this space was mostly empty.  It was my goal to fill it as quickly as possible so that it was nearly covered in plants and flowers.  I think I’ve succeeded….though the plants do die off in the winter, giving the space that barren look again.  You can see below where I started off this year and the series of flowers I’ve had so far: daffodils & round 1 tulips; round 2 tulips; salvia, chives, irises, dianthus, columbine.  Now, I have a few delphinium flowers and hostas blooming; and yet to come are phlox, sunflowers, sedum, chrysanthemums, and potentially some gladiolus and wildflowers.  I’d say this little garden is pretty packed!  Next step: another rearrangement of my plants until I figure out the proper order based on height/season.
 

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