Sunday, June 2, 2013

I Did Plant a Garden...

even though I hoped we wouldn't be here to see it grow...sigh...anyway here are some pics.

I missed getting you pictures of the roses when they were fully in bloom but the rose bush out by the mailbox out did itself again this year. There were just tons of blooms but they have mostly gone by now. However the rose bush by the house always blooms a bit later and here are some of those roses.

The peach tree and fig tree has put the yellow rose bush almost in the shade and it had more blooms this year than ever before (I think there were six blooms on it this year and it has never had more than two). Perhaps shade is better for this variety or maybe the leaves from the trees are just putting more nutrients in the ground.

I had roses bloom well beside the driveway that have never done well before either. Even a cutting that I planted on the hill years ago and has never bloomed got a bloom this year. I guess all the rain may have helped this year too.

On to the vegetable garden. I can't say I have really put any effort into the garden this year. I had picked up some tomatoes and peppers and just stuck all the tomatoes in one bed and the peppers wherever I could find a place. Then I looked over the seeds I had and put in whatever I had. It didn't amount to much.


Here are the tomatoes. Of course, since I haven't done anything with them, they are growing just fine. There are some onions in front of them. 

Here is the other big bed. I had one small packet of beans so those are in the front and then there are yellow squash and zucchini. There were supposed to be three plants of the squash but I guess one never came up. Doesn't matter as two will probably fill the bed anyway. That's one of the peppers in the corner.

Here is the bed with the herbs. That big one is the oregano and over in the other corner you can see just a tiny bit of green that is the thyme that actually lived through the winter. I have never had any live through the winter. The other plant in there is a pie pumpkin plant.

Here are the larger blueberry plants. They were looking pretty good and had some blueberries on them but our weather was so weird, where we would have warm days and then it would get really cold again so it lost the berries and some leaves. In the front (those that aren't weeds) are some beet plants. They aren't getting much for roots but maybe I will just eat the greens instead. They look pretty tasty. 

These are the pink blueberries. They did not produce any berries this year or flowers for that matter but they are still growing well. That is a pepper plant in the front and some nice poison ivy in the rear that I need to take the hoe to. 

The two other beds in the garden I haven't planted anything in yet. I may just leave one empty but the other I plan to get some cucumbers started.

I wanted to show you a few pictures of the trees as their growth has been kind of amazing.

This, believe it or not, is a little piece of fig tree that I planted here, I think,  4 years ago. It is now taller than the house. I planted it there to block the sun from hitting my bedroom window as it was really hot in the bedroom with that sun on it. (In Georgia, shade is everything). You can't see my window now! It does have figs all over but it will be a race to see if I can get any before the birds. I like them once they turn brown and the birds do not seem to care if they are green or not so the birds usually win. The tree will actually need trimming next year but I hope I am not here to do it. The fig tree in the back yard is only a little smaller because we had to trim it some to put the fence in but not much smaller.

This is the peach tree. I planted this the year before last. I didn't get around to trimming it this winter which is why it is so huge now. It got some blooms this spring but the late frosts took care of those so, unfortunately, it will not produce this year.

And lastly, the banana trees have produced another bloom. Winter was very mild again and it didn't die back to the ground again so it has produced another bloom. Last year the bloom got too heavy and fell off but this one seems to be holding on well. These bananas will not be edible from this variety but they do produce seed that I can plant or give away or whatever.

9 comments:

  1. It looks tropical! Those roses are so lovely.

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  2. I'm growing peaches but they are never better than Georgia peaches, but still so much better than than the supermarket. I did prune mine though and it is a dwarf peach so won't get taller than 10-12 feet even if I mess up. I hope I never forget to prune though as I don't want to have to drag out the ladder to take care of it. I'm thinking at some point I might have to buy a very small step ladder for the garden for my trees. I can see one of my dwarf apples getting too big. I already can't reach the top without a stool.

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    1. Actually peaches are rather hard to grow in Georgia because the humidity is so bad here and not enough rain fall. I guess the peach farms just got good at it.
      Yeah, I am probably going to have to drag out the ladder to prune that peach if we are here long enough.

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  3. Your Fig tree demonstrates why I need to grow my one in a container. They say that Figs actually do better if their roots are constrained. The one I have is only tiny at present (a Freebie from a magazine) but it won't stay that way for long.
    Despite what you say, you do seem to have a fair few veggies on the go. Sometimes things seem to thrive on neglect you know!

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    1. I had heard they grow better with restricted roots that is why I think they grow good in red clay, it definitely restricts the roots.
      The vegetables likely won't produce much...I long for the acre garden we had when I was a kid...

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  4. great pics! everything is just so darn pretty!

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  5. Hi Becky! Wow! Those rose bushes are beautiful! I love yellow roses! Your tomato plants look healthy, and yes, I love beet greens! They are good sauteed or juiced! The peach trees look great, and that fig tree looks amazing, for just a couple years old! Fig trees really like this Southern soil, don't they? I can't wait to eat some figs this year! Thanks for sharing the lovely photos! Have a great week! Blessings from Bama!

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  6. Its true figs produce better with benign neglect-constrained roots and no fertilizer. You may want to consider Kadota figs to combat the birds, they stay green when ripe and the birds dont seem to test them!

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  7. Hi Becky, the flowers are looking great. I enjoy seeing your gardens from start to finish. Looking forward to seeing more.

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