our maine home – zone 5b
Invitations went out to the fava bean party. Yes, we’re having it again this year after taking a break last year due to the pandemic. The timing is early compared to other harvests, so many things are maturing early this year. Sunday, July 18 at noon.
It will be a small group – I cut the initial guest list roughly in half. It’s a pleasure to have people over to appreciate the lovely fava bean.
Happiness is seeing a cucumber doing well. Flowering and starting to climb.
This corner has been a problem area. Sam dug out the narrow strip between the fence and the trellis, which was overgrown with weeds. Green beans are planted there and seem to be doing well. Inside the trellis will be shady soon as the beans on the right and the cucumbers on the left start to climb and get big. It’s been a challenge to figure out what to plant under there that will take early sun and later shade. Right now I have lettuce, carrots, fennel, celery leaf, and cilantro (just germinating). And some kale left over from last year. This area seems to take more than its share of my time in weeding and watering but it’s looking better this year than it has in the past.
I dearly love a nice big red cabbage. For some reason, this year my cabbage seedlings did great. I can’t believe it. I have a cluster of them and they are all big and round. Very exciting. There is very little insect damage, which may be a concern really, but makes them especially beautiful.
Borage is thuggish in the garden and would grow everywhere if I let it. I can’t resist leaving one (or maybe two) plants in place, for the edible flowers and the bee food. It is a joyful plant, even though it grows big and coarse.
The peas are overtaking the top of the trellis. It is always hard to believe that they will grow this tall when they first germinate in the cold early spring. Where does all that green material come from?
I have to pick them diligently, or they get big and not as tasty. The snowpeas especially. The shelling peas are ripening a little later.
The asparagus has not been a rousing success this year. We had mostly skinny skinny stalks not worth eating. I don’t know what to think. At this point, it’s just moving into the frond phase.
This graduated grouping of plants makes my heart happy when I walk by it. Lavender, stonecrop (yellow), garden thyme, anise hyssop.
I took photos in the early morning, so the lighting is quite shadowy. But here is a tour of the main garden rows. We have had some good healthy rainstorms lately so the plants are starting to look lush.
After a night’s rain, the morning sunshine was so beautiful. The daisies are looking spectacular and the tart cherry tree is really putting out some delicious ripe fruit.
