gardening and enjoying life in Salem, Massachusetts
What’s Happening in the Garden – July 18, 2021
Hello there!
Mid July is a time of great growth and anticipation and there’s a lot going on in the garden this week, It’s fun to see things starting to come together, or not, in some cases. It’s been very very rainy here, almost tropical at times. The break from daily watering is nice, but we need sun, especially for the tomatoes!
Michael has been working all spring and summer on replacing fences… this is in the list of things that are coming together. The bee balm has been full of perfect little pollinators and I’ve been watching a monarch butterfly visiting the milkweed plants. I would love to see our butterfly population increase. This border is coming into bloom. I found a little Anise Hyssop seedling at Maitland Farm on Mother’s Day and I’m so pleased with the plant that it’s growing into. I need to learn more about how to propagate this to spread it around the garden for next year. Here’s something that’s NOT coming together. I grew cucumber seedlings and they looked great.. we put together this cool trellis, I planted the cucumber plants and they’ve almost stopped growing. Today I added good compost to fertilize them and new seeds to the soil in between the plants. Most years I have lots of cucs and no trellis… The kale is happy and so are we. We’ve grown to love kale around here! I put it in salad and soups.. I even add it to Mac and Cheese!For some reason I called this Russian Kale a few weeks ago.. I was wrong, it’s actually called Black Magic. It’s a little tough and not especially tasty, but it looks nice. Behind it we have lots and lots of tomato plants.. These are Big Rainbow and the plants in the next photo are Bumblebee Cherry. There’s also Green Zebra Stripe, Beefsteak and lots of volunteer Cherry tomatoes scattered here, there and everywhere.
Have I mentioned that they would like some sun?
We just added the top layer of trellis to the yard long beans and they instantly reached up for it like magic. My cilantro didn’t reseed well this year, so I bought some plants and just planted them today (bottom left). I’ll cut them back in a few days after they settle. Hopefully the new leaves will fill in and be ready for salsa when the tomatoes are ripe. 😉The Rose of Sharon that my sister sent years ago are sorting to bloom already. There are so many seedlings.. please let me know if you’d like some. This has me wondering if they’re considered invasive, but I’ve never heard that they are. This little nook below our sunroom/office is a new addition..It’s a nice spot to sit and take a rest, think about things or have a quiet talk.I’m especially fond of my lobster trap table, it’s a little shaky, but it’s fun!I’m also fond of the view from the settee… it’s all about the view!
The Salem Garden 