Peas, carrots, beets, tomatoes, rosehips, little pumpkins, and gourds, there was a lot of blooming and garden growth in July.
Greenhouse growth
I have a small greenhouse in the back yard to extend the grow season, here in BC Canada. In the greenhouse I have peas, beans, sunflower plants, beets, carrots, and a variety of herbs.
Pea plants
The pea plants have been happily growing and latching onto the string trellis.
The pea plants started blooming in early July. You can see their tentacle-like grabbers coiling into the string, holding on tight to keep the tall pea plants upright.
Not long after the blooms grew the pea pods. After a couple weeks they plump and ripen, ready for harvest.
ripe Pea Pods
Peas can be ate fresh off the vine, cooked, or dried to store for future eating or planting.
The sunflower plants grew well enough in their upcycled bulk olive containers.
Sunflower plants
Sunflower buds have started to form.
In the picture below you can parsnip tops, this root veggie tops are similar to carrots, but more jagged - similar root to carrot, but more of a white color.
Parsnips
In the picture below you can see carrot and beet tops.
Beets and Carrots
In the pictures below you can see the beet root and carrot root tops starting to peek above the ground, they look decent sized already.
Beet Root | Carrot Root |
---|
White Onion
The white onion tops have been healthy all season, I'm curious how the onion bulbs are doing under the ground, but I'll have to wait until harvest to see.
Bean plants
The bean plants have grown up into the trellis, many bean Blooms have appeared, soon there will be beans.
Bean Blooms
Greenhouse herbs
I also grew a couple handfuls of herbs in the greenhouse, perennial herbs that survive winters, including oregano, sage, marjoram, mint, lemon balm, and thyme - and single season annual herbs, basil, chives, dill, and chamomile.
Greenhouse herbs
The herbs have already been harvested multiple times throughout the season, soon the perennial herbs will be transplanted around the yard and in the garden boxes.
Sweet Marjoram | Marjoram blooms |
---|
Above you can see sweet marjoram growth and blooms. Very similar to oregano, but more fragrant when fresh.
Chamomile bloom
Above you can see a chamomile bloom closeup, these flower buds make a velaxing herbal tea.
Dill leaves | Dill bloom |
---|
In the pictures above you can see dill leaves and blooms, dried dill leaves sprinkled on french fries is a treat.
Oregano
The above container filled with healthy oregano springs, these are destined to be transplanted into one of the garden boxes. Oregano I use most for tomato sauce, and an oregano herbal tea can sooth a sore throat or cough.
Rosemary | closeup |
---|
Above you can see healthy rosemary springs and a closeup. This perennial is ultimately headed to the garden box for transplant. The scent of rosemary reminds me of turkey stuffing and thanksgiving dinner.
Basil harvest
The bucket of basil has been giving harvests all summer, a tasty addition to many fresh dishes, I mostly add basil to sweeten tomato sauce after cooking.
Garden Box growth
There are also garden boxes in the backyard that I've been slowly filling with soil and composted material, next year those boxes will be full enough to fill with veggies.
Mid June Wild Rose blooms
Behind the garden boxes is a row of wild roses, in the above picture you can see their spring blooms.
The rose blooms eventually started growing rosehips, the fruit of the rose bush. Very high in vitamin C, rosehips have been used as a vitamin supplement, made into jam, and steeped into teas.
Strawberry plants don't usually grow many strawberries the first year, and production slows down by the fifth year, producers will often rotate out older plants.
Strawberry plant | Strawberry bloom |
---|
This first year strawberry plant managed to present a couple blooms, lots of runners too. The runners shoot off to the sides to grow new strawberry plants.
Strawberry bloom
After filling with more dirt, this strawberry plant will be transplanted to one of the garden boxes for a solid grow and expansion season next year.
Tomato plant cage
The caged tomato plant was moved out of the greenhouse for additional sun light. I'll be moving it back into the greenhouse soon as the chilly weather approaches.
Many flowers and a few tomatoes are on the tomato plant, tomato and pepper plants prefer a longer grow season.
Tomato
The gourd and pumpkin vines and leaves has filled in the garden box that is next to the compost bin.
Pumpkin blooms
Pumpkin blooms in the picture above, below you can see pumpkin and gourds starting to grow, the pumpkin has almost a watermelon look to it, the gourd one is yellow.
Pumpkin | Gourd |
---|
Pumpkin vine growing up the string trellis to the top of the compost bin, with two pumpkins growing on it.
Pumpkin vine
The compost bin doesn't fill more than a quarter height up, between it breaking down, and it being emptied into the garden boxes. Mostly lawn and garden clippings, and some corregated cardboard.
I'm most of the way through the summer grow season, harvests on the way :)