All the pictures I am going to share with you today are actually from Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.  I spent a bit of time in the yard these days. Andy had sprayed for mosquitoes over the weekend, so I was able to enjoy the yard without being under attack.   I had read a really lame gardening book Monday night while I sat at dance class, and while I found the entire book condescending and totally not for this area, I did take one thing away from it.  When you’re trying to make the most of your space, first, you should see what you can do with things you have on hand.  Gardening- especially vegetable gardening- should not be an expensive hobby.  By gum, he was right, so Tuesday morning I eyed up my yard, eyed up the various things I had around the yard, and I went to work- taking pictures along the way.

First up, I have a picture of my pea tower.

Using two tomato cages, zip-tied together worked beautifully.  My lesson learned this year is that I need to add some tendrils to the cages- using string or fishing line to give more options for the vines to climb up.  The other lesson learned is that if we want enough peas to enjoy, I probably need to have four of these towers going.   Since tomato cages and zip ties are incredibly inexpensive, this is how I will grow peas from now on.  Not only is it effective, but visually, it’s very pleasing to look at.

Next I have a photo of my small greens patch- these are from my very first plantings in the yard.

They’ve taken forever to do anything, but they finally perked up.  There are two heads of romaine, a dozen beets, some bright lights chard and then some scallions.   They’re all chewed on, but looking perky these days.   I’m thinking the scallions are simply going to remain unpicked.  I will let them winter over, and then next spring I will have some great spring onions to enjoy.

Here are the pole beans and the butternut squash.  They’re growing well, and I added a second level of taller bamboo poles for the beans to grow up, and the squash to grow down.

And what’s this?

Ah, this is a butternut squash blossom.  Anyone who’s followed my blog for a while knows that I plant butternut squash pretty much every year, and I have yet to be rewarded with a squash.  This year, I bought established plants, and they’re doing great so far.  The one problem so far?  This blossom is a male blossom- and none of the females are open for business yet.  I am planning to self pollinate, but first I need both genders of blossom to do so.

Next there’s my second sowing of chard, with a line of kale behind it.

Again, these are getting chewed up, so I don’t know what results I’ll have.  I would really like to get some greens to grow so I can freeze some.  I really like what they add to soups and stews in the winter.

Next I have my strawberry plants.

They’re growing like gangbusters, but I’m not getting any berries- they are being eaten before I can get to them.  But for this year, I’m okay with that.  I’m really just trying to establish the plants this year, so if we only get a berry or two, that’s fine by me as long as the plants keep growing so well.

My tomato plants seem very grateful for the additional sunshine Andy has given them.  In the last week they’ve really shot up and put out more blossoms.

Today when I went out I found that my Sungold and my Brave General have the first tomatoes on them.  YAY!  In the next week I expect to have to move a little faster in getting the plants trellised and tied up. I’ll definitely take pictures of how I do that.

My pepper plants are full of blossoms too- and some are beginning to push peppers as well.

I lost a sweet pepper in our mid-week storm this week, but the hot ones are all still doing well.  They seem to like the additional sun as well.

Here’s a picture of a geranium a friend gave me.  They really add a nice punch of pretty to an ugly part of the yard.

I have interesting fungus in the yard too.  I realize they may be indicative of not so good things, but it’s been kind of fun seeing all the different kinds grow.  Since my children hate mushrooms, I don’t have to worry in the least about one of them thinking a mushroom in the yard could be edible.

By the way, if anyone is thinking ahead for Christmas gifts, I would love one of those at-home mushroom farms.  It would be really fun to grow my own shiitakes or creminis.

And finally, I have a picture of one of the things that lame book inspired me to do.  I realized that I had plenty of containers yet, a very large bag of potting mix, and an endless supply of seeds.  So I went to work.  In one pot,  I put some lettuce seeds- I think I put them in so that they will grow to be attractive- artfully displayed as they grow.  In the second pot, I decided to put some cucumber seeds, surrounded by some chard seeds.  Again, thinking that this will be visually appealing, whether or not I get any produce out of it. (But I am hopeful for some late cukes here.)  This is what I ended up with:

To the right of this, I also took an unopened package of Earliserve green beans and planted the entire thing right in the ground- using square foot spacing.  Once they start to sprout I will have to determine how best to repel critters, but it just came to me that I still have plenty of dirt to work in, I might as well try planting stuff in it.

I also took three more pots just sitting around and planted a medley of kale and chard in them.  I used up the last of my potting mix in those, or I would have just kept going, filling pots and planting something in them.  What I’m really thinking is that if I do things correctly- especially with things like kale, chard and lettuce- that once the cold weather strikes, I can move these pots into our screen porch and try and extend their season by quite a bit.  I’m hopeful anyway.

Of course, all these pictures were taken before our big storm Wednesday night.  Thursday I had to spend time in my tomato patch, misting the plants and washing all the mud and dirt off them- as well as standing up quite a few that blew over.  I lost my black cherry tomato, which I’m bummed about, but I’m glad the other 33 plants are still intact and thriving.  The kids gardens aren’t looking so hot- they are just incredibly wind-blown, but I’m hoping for their sake, they’ll bounce back.  Slowly, everything else seems to be bouncing back from the stormy weather.  Although here it is three days later, and the ground is still soggy from the storm.  It can not rain for a while.

There will be more pictures to come.  Every day I find something new, and even though this will not be my most prolific year of produce, I’m still enjoying the process.  We’re learning what we need to do to maximize the space in our yard, and I’m really enjoying trying to garden potager style- and making it visually appealing as well as productive.