July Garden Journal

Hooray! A big boy keeps coming to my garden for food! And this makes a cute opening for my July gardening journal.

My bad. It's late. But before we enter August, I wanted to share a little bit of what I wanted to share. Hehe. Because I can't share everything before it's time 😊

So, he's a stray cat. There are a lot of stray cats here, of course. They help keep my garden safe from, well, snakes and mice. At least every night, there are a lot of cats guarding my garden.

But this big boy is the one of my fav. I once had a cat named Al, and he passed away. So since then, I haven't adopted any cats anymore. I just let stray cats come to my house, without any sense of ownership, at least it's better.

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Well, back to my garden. I regularly harvest marigolds with large petals, before they completely wilt. So, I have cut flowers in a pretty vase ♥️

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I have a new planter bag. A rectangular planter bag that's perfect for gardening in front of the house. It keeps things neat. Well, I got this planter bag through a collaboration with a brand 😊

I planted water spinach in the rectangular planter bag. The water spinach is just starting to grow. I placed sticks along the planter bag to keep it out of reach of stray cats. If I don't cover them with sticks, they'll become a place for cats to defecate.

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Along the wall of the residential area, I placed pots in which I planted spring onions. I replanted the ripe spring onions from the kitchen. They were two weeks old after planting.

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Next, in white polybags, I planted green spinach and water spinach. These vegetables are easy to grow and harvest quickly, so they can be used for household stock.

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I also planted red spinach in a white pot. They look even bigger. 😊 Their colors look really beautiful because they get full sun in my garden.

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Continuing on to my other garden next to the irrigation system. Even though it hasn't rained at all for several months due to the dry season, with the right plant selection, it's working well.

I'm growing a unique vegetable. I read from sources that it can withstand hot weather. snake gourd. Have you ever seen this vegetable before? Even though it's called snake gourd, it's not bitter. In fact, it's more like a combination of gambas and cucumber.

These snake gourds, are all ready to be harvested. Their shape looks very unique!

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Some of the small sunflowers are already flowering. I planted them directly in the hard soil. Their growth hasn't been great, but they're still trying to flower. They're so beautiful 😊

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I've also harvested the shallots I planted in used gallon jugs. I harvested them dry so I don't have to dry them later.

I'll cure them in the kitchen with their leaves so they last longer.

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Starting with the big boys, I'll end with the big boys too, hehe.

Next to the big boy is a pot of pink spinach plants. This is my first time growing this variety of pink spinach. They're two weeks old now. They already look delicious! I can't wait to harvest them ♥️

See you in the August Garden Journal. Happy gardening everyone ♥️ Don't forget to check out my latest gardening video about repurposing used potting mix.

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Best Regards,
Anggrek Lestari

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