In the garden, late June 2023

I decided that I was very overdue in writing about this year's garden. I've mentioned it here and there, but now that much more is happening, per say, I'll share some more!

Around the yard, blue-purple hydrangeas, deep pink spireas, deep pink roses, hardy geraniums, and daisies are blooming. I have a pot of English daisies on the porch that are the sweetest and they have been continually blooming. We are taking advantage of all the shade in the backyard from our big trees and spending as much time as we can outside, which even means drinking homemade raw milk hot cocoa outside on a cool afternoon.

Our garden setup is very similar to last year's arrangement. We have three raised beds which are 3' x 4'. I shuffled some repeat plants around and did my best to companion plant again this year.

My dahlias and calendula plants in the raised beds have buds, and the nasturtiums just started blooming (we tried the edible flowers and they were spicy! Reminded me of arugala). We have green tomato fruit on the slicer tomato plant and on both of my roma tomato plants. And just yesterday, I spotted the tiniest cucumbers.

We picked some sage yesterday, and actually, after three attempts at planting zinnias and something, ahem, eating them, I moved a few sage plants and a lupine plant into the empty space, since their original neighbors, the nasturtiums, are a bit big and wild.

After two failed attempts with last years seeds and no sprouts, I bought new zucchini seeds and they are now growing well. And I think that's everything in the garden this year! I focused a bit more on tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and flowers.

I am hoping to utilize as much as we can from the garden this year, whether that be drying sage, or pickling cucumbers, definitely canning salsa again, and shredding and freezing zucchini or grilling it fresh.  And depending on the number of blooms on the calendula and nasturtium, in particular, I would like to dry them and potentially use in salves or other topical recipes.

Both boys love the garden and the joy and surprise of walking out from one day to the next and being surprised with something new! Oh, I love that too. And we tried out my new garden basket that was a gift from my father- and sister-in-law, and it's perfect. I'm anticipating the days ahead where we hope to fill it.

Happy garden season to you!