Another week has passed, so let's see what has changed in our garden...
Our raspberry harvest has already tripled comparing to the last year. Wondering why? Raspberries spread quickly, and we got a large new bush in the back of the garden which spread from our neighbour last year - free produce! This variety grows on one year old stalks, so we can only harvest them this year. There is plenty of space in the back, and we let them live their life so we can enjoy them daily. I've been harvesting a cup of raspberries every day for the last week, how cool is that? We already have new stalks for next year, so once these old ones stop with producing I will remove them to give space to the new ones.
We also have a few bushes on the other side of the garden, and it's interesting to see how different these varieties are. Some of them are smaller, other bigger, some of them are sweeter, other not so much, but they compensate with stronger raspberry flavour.
And we still have plenty of wild raspberries and red currants. We have two varieties, so when the first bush is almost done producing, the second one starts to get tiny sweet red berries. Free breakfast all summer!
I don't know how to feel about our vegetables this year. Some of them are growing well while others are giving me headache everyday. Every time I see our peppers I feel like smiling. They make me happy as they grow much better than last year. We also planted some basil to deter aphids and so far all is growing well. And there is never too much basil, right?
This is our first flower this year! I can't wait to see the tiny pepper popping up.
I planted three kale seedlings which should be more than enough for us if we get to them earlier than slugs or other pests. Kale plants tend to grow huge, and if all goes well we should have enough for winter.
I have never thought that I would ever struggle with beans as much as I struggle this year. They are usually easy to grow, but this year I planted them twice already and both attempts were not successful, so I hope that the third time will be a charm. Here are my three rows of future beans (hopefully). It's my last attempt, so they better do their best and grow!
It's not only their fault as the weather has been horrible this year, so they didn't really get a chance to grow properly.
The temperatures went finally a bit up, so I could plant my sweet potato seedlings. The nights however were still a bit cold, so the old leaves turned white, but the vine is growing, and I hope that they will survive. I have never planted sweet potatoes before, so I'm a bit nervous.
Dill is one of my favourite herbs. When I was a child I didn't like it that much, but now I love it. I have several small bushes around the garden, and I could already harvest a bit.
And these are my poor beans that I planted more than a month ago. They are so tiny, but they started flowering already, so I'm convinced that I won't be able to harvest anything. I wanted to pull them out as they don't grow, but then I decided to give them the last chance to prove that they are worth my time and effort 馃槉
There is nothing cuter than tiny kohlrabies...
Look at it! It's almost as big as a lemon. It took them ages to start growing properly, but once they kicked off they are unstoppable...
I planted twelve more seedlings, and I will get another few in a couple of weeks from our neighbour. If you plant one type of seedlings over several weeks you will get continuous produce which is much better than having twenty kohlrabies at once.
Zucchinis live their best life. Luckily, there are both male and female flowers, so I don't have to worry about pollination. The insects can do their job.
It's the first time that I grow yellow zucchinis, and I must say that it's definitely not the last time. They grow so well.
Green zucchini is a bit behind, but it's growing well too.
Some potatoes have started blooming already. They are not big, so I hope that they focus their energy on what is happening below the ground.
Broccoli loves this cooler weather. They have plenty of white flies, but I can't do anything about it as it keeps raining. When we will have a few dry days I will spray them with mild soap water which should help getting rid of them.
And my tomatoes...
I spent so much time growing them since March. I put all my love in the process and now they got early blight! One of our neighbours planted tomatoes outside, but she is not coming every day, so she didn't notice that they got infected. It took her more than a week to remove the plants, and in the meantime the spores got to my tomatoes, so now we have to check them every day to remove infected leaves.
It's a fight that we can't win, but at least we can slow down the process and hope to get some tomatoes. I have also sprayed them with soda solution which caused burns and damage to chillies, basil, lettuce and eggplants that I have in the greenhouse too. It's been hard for me to accept that we might lose so many plants, but then I realized that I can only do this much and can't change the situation.
I hope that these babies will have enough time to grow...
As you already know we have many flowers in our garden too, so let's check them out.
In a few days all these buds will open and it will become so beautiful...
English roses are popping every day...
Calendulas are finally opening up...
Japanese astilbe is prettier every time I check it out...
And those hydrangeas - how beautiful are those?
And yes, we'll look at them in detail...
This snowball bush is the biggest surprise of this year. My husband cut it down to the ground in February and look how strong it grows. I thought he killed it, but this plant is more persistent than I could imagine. I wish I was so strong.
I hope that next time I will be able to show you my baby beans plants 馃槉
Happy gardening!