Welcome to my Starting a garden blog Post #19. But of course first some flowers 🌻🙂. We have lots of marigolds in the raised beds.
The painted daisies are still gorgeous but some of the blooms are getting to be a little past their prime.
Probably time to do some deadheading to keep this bed going.
These mostly white painted daisies are holding up better.
The blackeyed susans are really coming on. As you can see from the last few photos, our flower beds are so full of blooms. Its a wonderful time to be in beautiful Vermont 😍
The marigold beds are also full of blooms.
Now for Project Milkweed ⚒️🌿
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Several weeks ago I identified an area of my yard that had a lot of milkweed and stopped mowing it. The Monarch butterflies quickly found it!
The milkweed is just starting to bloom. The butterflies couldn't wait. They would patrol the milkweed checking for blossoms.
The tiny flowers are very small and very fragrant. Easy to see how the Monarchs find them and love them 😁
And of course, the whole reason for Project Milkweed - Caterpillars!!!!
We are working hard to create pollinator habitat to support a healthy pollinator population. Its exciting to see the next generation of Monarchs!
When hunting the elusive Monarch caterpillar... ok they're not that elusive haha but the easiest way to find them is the poop on the leaves below where they are hiding/eating.
In addition to the large area pictured above, I am also leaving some other milkweed clusters near the garden.
Project Milkweed has been successful beyond our wildest dreams 🍾
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Ok now for a garden update... this is a blog about gardening remember 🤣
We are waiting for the tomatoes to ripen. We have had a few tomatoes but there are LOTS on our plants. These are cherry tomatoes.
Take a minute and look at this photo of a beefsteak tomato plant. I think I count at least 10 tomatoes and there are also new blossoms.
And the smaller tomatoes like these grape tomatoes are almost too many to count.
The pepper plants are enjoying the hot, dry weather. They have been slow to come on but I think they just were waiting for the sun 😎
Here's some more peppers. They were planted from some saved seeds - either mini bell peppers or mini sweet peppers from Trader Joe's lol
I'll finish up with this photo of the garden from just inside the gate. The morning sunlight is filtered through the forest until late morning then the garden gets direct sunlight the rest of the day. The beds are overflowing. Especially the vines... this pumpkin grew out of the bed over to the fence and has now put on a baby pumpkin outside the garden lol
Thanks for visiting my garden. Have a great week 🌻☮️ 😎 !!!!
