Saturday, August 16, 2014

Veggie garden recap

When I watered my herb garden this morning, I took my camera.  I did it because Divers and Sundry said she needed photos of my veggie and herb garden because she had so few herbs and no tomatoes this year.

I thought I would go back a few months and do a bit of a recap.

This is my veggie and herb garden 

in late April.

I had just planted my basil seeds, planted the fresh herbs I purchased, and brought out the ones that had wintered over in my house.

I then arranged my pots in what I thought was a pleasing manner.  Note I also hung a string to hold my black raspberry vines that were just starting their second year of growth.

In mid-May my spearmint (closest black pot on the right above) was already doing well, while several of my basil plants had started growing (black pots closest to the tomato plants) enough I could snip a few leaves as I needed them.

I began cutting on a regular basis in June, but the dill got eaten by the yellow and black striped crawlers that soon turned into butterflies.

A few days ago I showed that I had cut my basil leaves back.

These photos were taken earlier this morning.

Unfortunately, my new camera doesn't capture the sun streaks as well as my last camera did.

You can compare these to the photos from late April, because I was surprised how different the garden looks now.

I was pleased to see the basil was still going strong, even after I cut it back.

I have NO dill because the butterflies have all flown away to find new and tastier dill plants to reproduce in.

Both of my mint plants (left front) have gotten out of hand and will have to be repotted.

Sadly my lemon grass didn't overwinter as promised, and I even lost my sage, which I'd had for three years.   This is new sage I bought this year.

I have two types of rosemary and the white pot (on left next to the fence) is new this year.

A final August image of my herbs

and the complete garden, which is 4 feet (1.22 meters) wide by 10 feet (3.05 meters) long. 

Thanks for looking and thanks for asking about my herb and veggie garden.  I'll do a recap on my "flower bed," what I laughingly call the front garden, soon.  I'm simply thrilled a few of you found this interesting.  I guess, in a way, it IS art!

9 thoughtful remarks:

HeatherD said...

Very interesting indeed. I like to look at different urban/container gardens for ideas in case I ever move to town. With all the room in the world, all I have this year is tomatoes. My son usually preps the soil for me and he was too busy to do more than that. It was kind of funny though...I never did clear last year's tomato remains from the garden. This year I was pulling weeds in a desultory fashion and found several little volunteer tomato plants where there had been tomatoes last year. They are still green (because they were shaded by weeds so long!) but I am waiting to see how good they will be. Don't remember if they were determinate or indeterminate. Thanks for sharing your garden photos.

Rita said...

Looks like it has been doing very well for you this year, with just a couple deaths in the herb family. ;)

Divers and Sundry said...

Love this, thx! My poor lonely spearmint, rosemary, & thyme... -my oregano died- all by themselves in the midst of the house plants. Yours are an inspiration. :) Next year I vow to have a tomato plant and a bell pepper plant. And more herbs!

Art or not, I love the garden posts :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your garden with us. Over here in the UK it has been a strange year for growing vegetables and herbs and we have come to the conclusion that although we had a mild but wet winter and good spring the nights were very cold right through to late June. The peas never showed up at all, the lettuce produced four feeble plants from a whole 20 foot length, the parsley didn't bother. Runner beans struggled and are only now finally producing a crop yet the root veggies did phenomenally well. Lots of carrots and early potatoes and the parsnips look good too but the tomatoes are tremendous with huge fruits and lots of them. Home made tomato soup anyone?? :)
The chives have seeded everywhere this year too.

Nan G said...

Hello E, it's always a pleasure to see how your gardens are growing! Thanks for sharing. Hugs

Julia Dunnit said...

My goodness, the raspberries really came on! actually, it all did, it's very pleasing to have a fat overflow from a potted garden, and as useful herbs, it's a double bonus. Mint is a runaway isn't it, we had one planted when we moved into this house and it took two days to dig up, and probably two years to stop it growing wherever it liked...definitely better in a pot...argh!

Anonymous said...

Looking great. My basil always liked a haircut and would come roaring back. Have to content myself with your garden and friends, not any for me this year, but next, here we come. xox

pearshapedcrafting said...

It IS art! Love your herb garden - every year I vow to grow more herbs but - same as last year - mint, sage, thyme, rosemary!! Hey ho! Chrisx

Craftymoose Crafts said...

Even though you lost a few plants over the Winter, you still have a good collection of herbs.

I got your message about the travel fodder and will put some together for you. I'm a little bogged down right now which is why I did not make it for Tea this week, getting ready for DD's move back to NYC.