Summer – The Salem Garden

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.

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!

Wishing you all peace, love and time in a garden!

Love, Michele

What’s Happening in the Garden- August 12, 2017

Hi everyone!

Here’s a few quick pics just to stay in the game. This has been the year of the bunny. We’ve been inundated with rabbits who have eaten everything! We do have decent rows of kale, swiss chard and Brussel sprouts but our harvest of beans, lettuces, tomatoes, cucumber and zucchini are very low. Michael’s been working hard to secure the fence and we’ve finally got a handle on them inside the fenced area, but the wider yard is their’s to roam! There’s also a lack of black-eyed Susan and many of the other perennials that we enjoy every year. I keep telling myself that the roots haven’t been eaten, so maybe these plants will come back stronger than ever next year.

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave me a comment or question. I love to hear from you!

Lots of garden love,

Michele

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day- August 2014

Happy Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day! We had a lot of rain the other day. It was nowhere near the thirteen inch amounts that were reported in areas to the south but it was a continuously driving rain all day. In anticipation of that I took these pictures on Tuesday because I wasn’t sure that there would be any blooms left after. We ended up doing okay in the rain. Everything got a good drink but we didn’t have too much destruction.

Last fall we scattered knockout roses across the front and side yards and while their very common, they have added a nice bit of color. I’ve been reading about rosa rosetta virus and worrying so I pruned all red canes and branches back to the ground a few weeks ago. I’m pretty sure that mine have it and there’s not a lot you can do to stop it other than try to cut it out before the mites make their way to the roots. We’ll see what happens.
I like the way the reddish pink flowers look against the worn fence.

The scarlet runner bean is taking off. I enjoy this plant because it’s pretty while it grows and it produces beautiful purple beans at the end of the season. It’s just a great, easy vine for filling in tall, long spaces.
It’s starting to creep up the bird feeder pole. I should have provided strings or a trellis.

We have lots of lilies. These were all planted in the years before I would have saved the packaging and made note of varieties. I like this pretty pale pink..
Deep orange…I don’t think it’s a ditch lily? Betsey, what do you say?
And a beautiful deep red…
I planted a few varieties of zinnia this year. The only ones blooming as of today are “peppermint stick mix.” I’m a little disappointed in them. I expected big beautiful bunches but so far the few seeds that germinated have produced single, scattered flowers. That does resemble a peppermint stick. It was pretty on the package but I’m not so sure now.