Summer Vibes: A Photo Tour of all the plants “filling in”
We are SO busy right now. You can imagine. The garden has been planted out for a month and a half. So now is the time for special projects: repairs and updates in the Stone’s Throw Guest Haven, laying new paths so guests can easily access the garden beds, moving several perennials to better growing locations, amending soils, weeding (when I have time)… Meanwhile, the food-bearing plants are doing their thing. Most are thriving remarkably well, despite the incredible heat and minimal rain this summer.
This month, I’ll let the pictures speak a thousand words. Here’s a quick photo tour of the Tiny Food Forest, and a few highlights from other garden zones too. Want to see more? Contact us anytime to schedule an educational tour!
Our micro Food Forest includes: Dwarf plum (far left), elderberry (back middle), marshmallow and mullein (right), lemon balm and ornamental oregano throughout, and annual veggies/bulbs at the edges of the perennial area—orach, purple cabbage, savoy cabbage, several types of kale, spaghetti squash. All filling in beautifully!
Our Apple “Fruit Tree Guild” built around an older apple tree that was on the property when we moved in. We’re still learning what grows best under this tree and in this difficult light (very little morning sun, lots of hot afternoon sun). So far, winners include: garlic, calendula, true hyssop, tarragon, mullein.
Another angle on that apple fruit tree guild. This corner area gets very harsh afternoon light. Semi-arid/desert plants are happier here. The extreme microclimates on our property are surprising.
This new “Arbor Garden” is just starting out. We lost a tree in this front yard section last summer during some hard winds. So we sheet-mulched the area and turned it into more garden, of course! With soil this “young”, not a whole lot will grow here yet, but we planted a few annuals just to cover the ground. So far these are doing well: cabbages, kale, blue hubbard squash, and one lowly grape (donated by a friend) that will eventually define the arbor—haven’t built that yet!
This is another area newly converted to sheet-mulched garden bed. Again, just to cover the bare patch, we planted a few annuals to test what likes this front yard light (mix of morning sun and hard afternoon heat). Corn seed test is going well so far.
We do have a more conventional raised-bed kitchen garden too. It’s getting wooly in here, but quite productive: blue hubbard squash, leeks, cabbage, kale, tomatoes, peas, basil, orach, lovage, chives, comfrey, golden beets, rhubarb and hollyhocks in the way back.
I’ve been promising myself to set up a hammock for the past 3 years. Rest needs to be more of a priority around here. Now? No excuse. The hammock calls. Love the pollinator patch, so much color. Beautiful place to take a breather. If you can’t find me in the garden beds…