Good morning, garden bloggers. Aloha kakou from hot, sweaty central NJ. Frankenoid will be taking the month of July off to help her boss move his office, and I am the first of the summer replacements. It is also a good time to assess what worked and what didn't in your garden.
This was a year of change for us at casa blue jersey. I am mostly a flower gardener. In the past, I have grown a few veggies in pots for fun, but I have relied on a CSA (community sponsored agriculture) share for most of my greens. We decided not to join the CSA this year since dad, DeviousPie, and I were going to be away for 4 weeks in HI and at my son's wedding in Seattle. I expanded my vegetable patch, and dad installed soaker hoses on a timer to keep the garden watered. It survived pretty well. We harvested the very last of the peas when we came back from HI, and we are working to eat the last of the lettuce before it bolts. I have lots of green tomatoes and lots and lots of squash blossoms. I ordered some quick growing greens to replace the lettuce. I will plant snap peas, arugula, and turnip greens to harvest in the fall. I couldn't help myself. When we removed the last of the pea plants, I replaced them with some flower seeds. Follow me below the colonial cheese doodle for some pictures:
Based on the number of blossoms I have, we are going to have a lot of squash. I also bought some seeds for traditional African-American plants from D. Landreth, including bird house gourds. Here are some of the squash blossoms:
Dad planted some taro in a pot to remind him of Hawai'i:
We are also growing purple sweet potatoes:
I love hollyhocks, but they seem to grow best in my vegetable patch. I am not sure why:
I threw some giant zinnia seeds in a pot before we left for Hawai'i. They are just starting to bloom now:
A hydrangea from my shade garden in the front of the house:
Dad took a picture of this glad just before the deer ate it:
And here are some coreopsis that I grew from wildflower seeds:
So what's happening in your gardens this week?