June 30 Update

TOMATOES

Cherokee Purple getting some support

Tied up the Tomato Cherokee Purple in bed V1. The poor thing didn’t even know it had a huge cage to climb up in. To give it some direction, namely ‘UP’, I used jute twine tied off at one leg and then tied to the opposite leg diagonally.

Cherokee Purple tied with jute for support

 Then came back on the other side of the plant. Then repeated it using the other two legs. It looks like the plant is confused but I’m hoping the sun will help ‘straighten it out’. I’ll repeat this tying up about every 15-18” as it grows.

 

Juliet grape tomato 1st of the year

 First tomato of the year. Juliet grape is a very prolific producer. The plant will get very large and bushy If left unchecked as I usually do. This year I plan, as I do at the start of every year, to keep its size in check. It usually gets its own 4’x4’ bed, this year it is sharing an 8’x4’ with the Cherokee so it simply MUST behave.

 

GARDEN BED NAMES

I think I’m finally getting to the point, after six years here, where I can begin to better identify my garden beds. When we first moved in to this house in 2004 I was so excited to finally have a place where we could settle for more than just a few years that I went a little ‘random’ as to where I planted things. My main plan was to just get them in the ground and find out what makes it here. Some have survived, others have not.

Now that we are setting down roots as deep as the plants we are growing, I’m beginning to get the urge to move away from my previous random plantings and create beds like ‘Butterfly Garden’ and ‘Hummingbird Garden’ and ‘Cut Flower Garden’, etc.

In the backyard, I have eight clearly defined beds, not counting the raised beds for edibles. In the past I have very originally referred to them as B1, B2, B3, and so on because they are in the backyard. Yes, before you ask the beds in the front yard are labeled F1, F2, F3, and so on. Not very insightful labels by anyone’s measure but in my head each bed had a specific ‘calling’, even if I couldn’t put into words what it was. Now, I’m beginning to see the plan more clearly and have decided on the following ‘themes’:

• B1 will now be known as ‘Deck Side Garden’. How’s that for a descriptive name? Bet you can guess where its located.
• B2 is now the Hummingbird Garden;
• B3 the Bird Garden;
• B4 is simply the Garage Shed;
• B5 the Herb Garden
• B6 has yet to be built much less named
• B7 Butterfly Garden
• B8 another as yet built garden
• B9 the Vine Garden because it runs along a fence, very handy for vines and such
• B10 will be the Cut Flower or Fragrance Garden

I have been building lists of what plants are suitable for each garden, such as what attracts butterflies, and I have also been able to track what plants can survive in our climate. Keeping track of the performance of my plantings has been time consuming but rewarding. I have found that gardening affords as much pleasure in the journey as it does in the destination. Hopefully, all of this hard work will soon pay off and my landscape won’t look so random.