Straw Bale Garden Update! :)

Finally! An update! :)

This is a photo of my straw bale garden first thing this morning. :) All four bales are fully in use now (finally), and as you can see, things are really growing! This is an update on the veggies and fruits so far, both picked and on the vine. :)

Our prettiest plants by far (and also the most thriving) are the cucumber and pumpkin plants. 

While it used to be a simple matter of 'cucumber on the left, pumpkin on the right' you can see that they have now intertwined. :) Can you spot the small yellow cucumber blossoms on the half of the bale with the larger pumpkin blossoms? 

If you look even more carefully, you might notice the little vine of leaves that is now growing on top of the bale to the left of the cucumbers... those are pumpkin!! It has wound through the cucumber plant and onto the broccoli bale, where it is now sneaking tendrils towards our newest plant...



Introducing our very first watermelon sprout! This is a 'sugar baby' watermelon and is said to get between 6 and 12 pounds, have high yield, a sweet taste, be drought resistant, and have a shorter season. 

This makes him a good match for us, since we seeded at the beginning of July instead of in June. The long, thin green sneaking up on him is the pumpkin vine two plants away. I may have to release that tendril so it doesn't choke the watermelon seedling out.

Back to the cucumbers for a moment. They began to produce little cukes last week! :) A few of them turned yellow and died while they were still small, but two others took heart and really began to grow!

This is what they look like on the vine while they are still in the middle of the growth process. You may be able to tell by looking that they are very prickly... or as Giraffe says, 'poinky'. :)

These are the first two cucumbers we picked. It turned out that we grabbed the guy on the left a smidgen too soon. He was mostly crunchy flesh, almost no seed whatsoever, and was light green in color. We will wait longer to pick the other cucumbers still waiting on the vine. 

Don't mind my nails here... I finally used that Mother's Day gift certificate on the last weekend in June to get my nails done, and I wanted a little nod to Independence Day. :)

Tomatoes of all three varieties are growing now. I have hopes that I will end up with more beefsteak tomatoes than I know what to do with!

Pictured here is the first beefsteak fruit that showed up, and is on the vine growing out of a straw bale. This plant now has four to six tiny fruits growing. I am excited to see how big they get, and to have them ripened and ready for tomato sandwiches!

This little beefy baby is one of the guys growing from the big planter we let get out of control. I can see at least six of these little guys from any given angle, and generally get up to around fifteen before I quit counting. If I can keep these plants alive, we should be rich with tomatoes the rest of the growing season. :)

I did what I could, tying plants to the tomato gate, but when you have let 26 plants grow out of control, you inevitably end up with a mess...

This mess, to be exact. These are the tomato plants from the planter, and as you can tell some of them have fallen over. 

In fact, the entire planter fell over! It is (as you can tell) being propped up by the red wagon my children will now not be using for the rest of the summer. lol

We actually popped a few heavy stones on the back of the planter so that (between the weight and the wagon) it will not fall over again. This group of plants is now taller than both Giraffe and Koala!

You might think they cannot possibly survive with so little soil to share, but I am keeping them watered and fertilized. So far, so good. 

The broccoli has also begun to thrive, although you can see that pests have done some serious damage to the leaves. Not long after snapping this photo we bolstered the plants with more rich dirt around the base, and a good covering of dirt for the whole bale. 

The watermelon are planted to the right of the broccoli. Hopefully they will join the pumpkin and cukes in taking over the yard before we know it! ;) 

We also purchased some diatomaceous earth to spread around the plants as an organic pest-control option. We over-did it on the pumpkin plant, and some of the leaves ended up looking quite dusty. However, I will say that my plants do seem relatively pest-free this morning and the bees are still able to light on the blossoms to pollinate. So far I am very pleased with it. :)

The celery is still growing very well by the house. In the morning it gets a nice good dose of direct sunlight, and is quickly overcome by shadow from the house. This is good, because if it were in direct sun all day it would wilt. 

You can see that we took a clean plastic cup, removed the bottom, and pressed the stalks up through so that they can grow straight and tall.

It turns out that this has also been very helpful with pest control, although we have had some small slugs enjoying themselves on the leaves. :) We did remove that bit of plastic which blew into the yard and hid up against it... in case you are wondering. ;)

The sugar snap peas are still growing well, and if I would ever locate the packet I started them from we would have many more! For some reason, I have misplaced it. 

Pictured here are the first four pea pods we harvested. Giraffe was unfamiliar with how to pick peas, and I did not think to tell her, so these look a little rough. No big deal though; she is learning as we go, just like I am! :)




Here are the crisp and hearty peas that were in those pods. :) They were not enough to boil or steam, but I would not have had the chance anyhow. 

As it turns out, Koala is nuts for sugar snap peas and Giraffe prefers the pods they came in! These babies were gone in absolutely no time at all. :)


There is more to show and more to say, but I am tired and isn't there always? I am having the literal best summer of my life. It has nothing to do with finances or health, friends or circumstances. It has everything to do with my little family living in our little house and growing our little garden in our little back yard. :) The days are spent busily playing out of doors in the water, sliding on slides, swinging on swing, swimming in inflatable pools (or whooshing down slip 'n slides), barbecuing with husband, watching more fireworks than we can count shoot off around the neighborhood, watering and tending our plants... in so many words, it is heaven on earth. :) I am experiencing a level of contentment unparalleled to any other period of my life. The Lord has been so very good to us. I could not ask for more. :)