A month ago I shared photos of my garden. At that time some things were just being transplanted or were quite newly transplanted. Other things were well on their way to maturity.

We have some flowers up near the front fence - and in various other places in the yard. These started originally as volunteers. Birds planted them. Now I do tend to transplant them if they are in rather uncomfortable places.

I like to grow them along the fenceline.

Along our front fence

Many years ago I had people steal potted flowers from the fenceline.

From that time, I just began to grow these flowers.

Just at the edge of a previous flowerbed.

These grew right near the gate where I have to open and close it. They need to be moved.

Let me show you.

Peas.

They are finished. The heat has done them in - so I picked pretty much all of them a few days ago and am calling it good. Peas don’t like the heat and we are having hot weather now.

I also had a problem because in the middle of the peas, Mike’s previous unharvested potato plants were popping up all over the place!!! Needless to say, I was fighting a losing battle!

I harvested three times. I really need to get them into the ground a month earlier than I am able to. I do think I know what to do about it, however - next year I’ll try something different. What I got was fine. But just not enough.

These are sugar snap peas, so I don’t have to shell them - you eat them whole. And we love them. I got close to a total of 2 lbs. Pretty pitiful, actually. But they are more expensive by weight, than meat, so it’s better than nothing.

They are ready to be pulled up. Hopefully in the next week I’ll pull them out and take down the lines.

Tomatoes.

I planted some tomatoes in pots and some in the ground.

The ones in the pots get a lot more attention and watering from me. Here they are.

I do have some small tomatoes forming now. I just noticed them the other day - so that makes me very happy! My friend gave me some plants that should produce large tomatoes, but I planted all seeds from cherry types as I’ve had better success with them than the large ones. I did put the 5 large fruited plants from my friend into pots, however.

Here are the ones in the ground.

It is hard to see these because they are spread out and I don’t have them staked. Also, there are potatoes growing in the middle of these!

They are near the peas and I will feel blessed if they give me tomatoes. I had leftover plants and didn’t want to just throw them away so I put them in the ground. However, I have so little faith in our soil that I don’t want to invest a lot of money or time into them more than I already have. I already have about 15-20 plants up by the house - which if they produce will be a LOT.

Flowers.

Doing fine - here they are.

I also planted these in a ring right about the first of June. One thing this planting this year has convinced me of is that I will grow begonias again - and again. Why haven’t I been growing them all along? I don’t know. They are tough, and prolific and apparently like the type of weather and soil I have.

Pumpkins of all kinds. They are coming along. Spreading all over the place. Seriously. I’m encouraged by them. A month ago they were just getting established. It won’t be long til the whole empty space of the garden will be covered by leaves.

Corn - the early planting is getting tall and I’m encouraged by it. The second planting came up well and is small but it is fine. July is a huge time of growth for the corn.

Beans.

The beans I planted are taking their time at growing, but hopefully soon they will reach the fence and start growing up it and begin flowering by early August. Maybe I’ll put a little fertilizer on them in the next couple of days.

My little hot cherry peppers are doing fine. I have hope I can get some out of these little plants. I tried growing peppers one other time and got a few peppers. But these are small ones, so hopefully soon they will start flowering and setting peppers.

Around the line of the hose, I have about 7 or 8 plants. They are still kind of small. I need to put some grass or something around the base of the plants.

Zucchini and yellow crookneck squash. All is going beautifully here! I grow these things just to help me feel like a gardener! I have a collection of zucchini ready to give away already!

Well, actually the crookneck squash seed I brought from the USA since I’ve never seen it here. I like it.

The plants are enormous and I got my first zucchini on July 3, for which I am super excited!

So overall, the garden and potted plants are just growing, growing and growing. I’m watering daily in this hot weather and trying to keep everything alive. Thankfully most of the things in the garden have soaker hoses providing them moisture. I do have a few that I’ve not hooked up yet - and I keep thinking I should do it and then just don’t. I suppose it hasn’t been that big of a deal for me to just water those plants.

I did plant some more zucchini and squash seed so that maybe at the end of August I could get some more zucchini from fresh plants. These plants tend to have a lifespan and towards the end of their life, they kind of quit producing.

I put two seeds in each little pot. From the back - green zucchini, yellow zucchini in the middle and the yellow squash in the front row.

So, hope moves on, and maybe we can have zucchini well into September!

And that’s about it. Oh wait.

sour cherry tree - by now most of the cherries have been picked

We have some cherry trees - sweet and sour. Mike got a lot of sweet cherries and we ate them - in June (the trees are his babies). I picked a few sour cherries the other day and froze them for him. I’ll make some muffins or something when he gets back.

All in all - all is fine - the garden is coming along well. It is nice to have several different things as some things do better and some do worse each year - depending on weather and weeds, time given, etc. The fact that this year so far I’ve had sugar snap peas, sweet and sour cherries and now zucchini - both green and yellow and 3 crook neck squash.

And it’s just beginning. I have hope for much more this summer. Only God knows, though.

Have a great day wherever you are reading!

Thanks so much for coming along with me on this journey!

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store here!

Feel free to browse the site.

July Garden Update