As we are coming into the last week of June and it is officially summer (Yahoo!) the garden is starting to take hold and starting into it's intense growing period.
I do container gardening, have a covered garden and then a couple of smaller plots interspersed in the forest where I live.
Let's start on the deck where I have some flower pots, lots of basil ( I grow it in containers so I can move them in and out as needed for they don't like the cool damp weather) and some other herbs kept close by the door for easy picking when I need them. This is also where Bruno hangs out.
Bruno Among the Flower and Basil Pots
JJ Likes to Hang Out Here Too!
This is lilac blooming time and we have quite a few bushes around with there lingering sweet scent!
Lilacs at the Porters
We've had lots of rain so our yard is looking a bit like a jungle! It's amazing how quick things can grow with the right conditions!
Tremendous Growth with the Wet Season Turns Our Yard into a Jungle!
The big Amur Maple that was in the center of our yard was damaged by the heavy snows in the winter and we tried trimming off the damaged branches but it looked pretty ragged so we chopped it all off to let the new sprouts come up evenly and it's now putting on good new growth.
New Growth on Stump of Amur Maple that was Damaged Over the Winter
I have what I call my greens garden, close by the house, where I grow my fresh salad making stuff. I also have the sweet Cicely growing there and some flowers.
Sweet Cicely and Nasturtiums in Bloom
In that greens bed I grow lettuce and spinach. We've had a few feeds of the spinach and the second crop is coming up. The lettuce is slowly getting to a size where we can harvest it. That's okay though, for we're still eating off the pots of lettuce we had in our indoor garden.
See the posts for my indoor garden project - the last one with links to the other 13 posts in it, at: @porters/my-may-entry-to-the-steemit-community-garden-journal-challenge-finally-getting-out-into-the-outdoor-garden
Young Lettuce Seedlings in the Greens Garden
Second Crop of Spinach Just Coming On
In front of that greens garden I have a plot where I had an apple tree planted but the heavy snow and the nibbling rabbits and mice destroyed it. I'm letting the comfrey and mint take over that bed along with some lemon thyme and a couple of tomato plants I plunked in there.
Comfrey in Bloom
Inside the covered garden I have my tomato plants, cucumbers, parsley, celery, broccoli and our cannabis plants (which are now legal in Canada - hooray!)
The broccoli plants I start early and grow on the cooler side of the green house. Being under cover they don't seem to get attached by the cabbage butterflies the same.
My celery I started from seed and they are very slow growing but they're coming!
My tomato plants I crowded into the one bed for I sacrificed my other beds for the cannabis plants. They are growing well and I'll be trimming off all the leaves except the big top 4 or 5 ones plus I'll be vining them up string attached to the roof and weighted down with metal bars (I've yet to set this up for I have to get a whole new set up since I moved the tomato bed.) I'm sure they will be fine.
The cannabis plants are loving their new bed full of lovely, rich, sandy loam soil with a nice straw mulch. We just started darkening them off so we can have some nice sticky buds come the end of August when the weather starts getting cool.
Crop of Tomatoes
Celery Plants
Italian Parsley
I also grow some curly parsley outside at the edge of my greens garden for they are more decorative and I like lots for my pestos.
Cucumber Plants
Broccoli Plants in the Covered Garden
Broccoli Plants Outside in the Middle Garden
As you can see the broccoli outside is a ways behind the broccoli in the covered garden. These poor little seedlings were attached by masses of flea beetles when they were still in their six packs so I was surprised they were growing at all!
Along with the broccoli I also have cucumbers growing in my middle garden and some cabbage, cauliflower (these seedlings were attacked by the flee beetles too), kale, zucchini, peas, beans, Swiss chard, arugula plus my extra tomato plants and some new plantings of red and black currents I got from my neighbors.
Cucumber, Zucchini and Cabbage Bed
Peas Beans and Rhubarb Chard Along with Giant Self Seeded Mullein Plant
I'm hopeful for my zucchini, for it is starting to set little zucchinis! I love zucchinis for my zoodles to have with my pesto.
As the sun starts to go down amongst the trees I leave you with one last photo of my lilacs growing by the Porters sign.
Lilacs at Head of the Lane
I hope you enjoyed my garden tour and I would love to see you join all the folks from around the world sharing their gardens in the SteemIt Community Garden Journal Challenge put on by @simplymike! Find it at @simplymike/3yky8-steemit-community-garden-journal-challenge-ending-soon
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