With all the rain AND sunshine here in Upstate NY, my flowers and herbs have taken off.
Let me give you a sampling of how things have grown since the last entry in my #gardenjournal .
The top two pictures are of the wild sunflowers I planted last year. What started as just a hunk of roots given to me from my cousin, who has such a green thumb, this perennial wild flower has shot up quite nicely from just a month ago. It won't bloom until August, but when it does, wow, bright yellow sunflowers will dazzle you.
Those two pictures below are marigolds started from seeds outdoors, germination took about 5 days, the seedlings looked strong from the get go and have grown substantially over a 30 day period. They are already producing buds, should have some color soon.
Here on our #homestead, we make pickles from our kirby cukes and pickles always require a good amount of fresh dill. Here you see some nice growth from a little over a month ago. Dill can be tricky to grow, as it is a very delicate herb that we have found must be germinated in our window box, then teased along under the grow lights before it can be transplanted outside.
The dill on the right side has grown dramatically, notice the yellow flowers? They will produce the dill seed I also use in our pickle brine.
Salad anyone?
All it took was a month to grow this leafy lettuce, it's time to start harvesting and enjoying some nice big salads for lunch or dinner, heck, there's enough crispy leaves here to have it for both.
This is where the magic happens. Most of my herbs are grown in pots, they sit in the sunshine just outside my kitchen door. From now until the cold weather hits our mountain, I will be clipping the goodness off my plants to add to all kinds of recipes. Then as the weather starts changing in the fall, I will strip the herb plants and dehydrate much of the herbs. Or, as is the case with sweet basil, I will make pesto and freeze it. I love having a good amount of pesto on hand, really adds a lot of pizazz to soups, stews, sauces and of course, grilled panini sandwiches.
The last thing I want to leave you with is just a show off of my new roses. These were just planted about six weeks ago. This is a double bloom red rose bush. They will remain in these big pots until the fall, then they will be transplanted into the new garden, not yet built, but I have been promised by 
Go ahead, take time to smell the roses.
This my entry for July #Gardenjournal #challenge.
I would like to invite 
