Straw Bale Garden - June 27th

Good day! I took some pics this morning so here is a quick update. :)

My huge mess of a garden is continuing to grow! (At least we finally mowed the lawn, am I right?!?!?!) You can see that the tomatoes are growing up the trellis to the right, falling into the lawn in the middle, and that zucchini, squash, and cantaloupe are taking over the right side of the trellis.

I should note that we did tie up the fallen tomatoes in the middle shortly after I took this picture. 

I'm not sure whether you can tell or not, but you can see a couple of the random "accidental" plants growing in this picture. Those are the plants that came up from the seeds my little Koala dropped around the place. Especially visible is the zucchini in the middle of my yard just above the cabbage in the center of the picture. 

There are also bean plants growing to the bottom right of those center tomato plants. She dropped those on the ground in front of the tomato bales. Apparently, those seeds like it there. ;)

Here are some of the plants from the right side of the garden. There is no trellis here. Maybe next year!

Spaghetti squash is across the back. Carrot seeds are to the front left. Bush beans (long green snapping beans) are center front, and the leaves of my broccoli plant are visible to the right. Not pictured are the potatoes which live deep inside the back of these bales. This is my first time planting potatoes. They have not come up yet. Fingers crossed!!

This looks like absolutely nothing, am I right? We mowed over several of the zucchini plants growing up out of the yard. Two are left. This is the second. There are also baby tomato plants in there. Can you see them? Those are probably also going to get mowed over. For now, they were gone around carefully with a weed-eater. 

My bell pepper plants (emerald and also california wonder) are finally growing for real. They seemed to struggle this entire spring. I have not yet figured out what to place in the bale beside them. I am looking for a good companion plant. (Hopefully something that will do well but will not vine off into my neighbor's yard!) 

You can also see that the different varieties of spinach are growing well in the foreground. ;) Giraffe planted those herself! They are in the planter we first grew tomatoes in on the small deck of our second story apartment. :)

My herbs are doing alright. The basil bolted, of course. Then a heavy rain came through and knocked it over sideways. :/ 

There is another plant growing in that straw between the green basil and the purple basil. It looks like a straight stick with greenish-reddish leaves. I have no clue what it is. I should probably pull it but I am curious to see what it grows into.

This is my Giraffe's tomato plant. She planted it in this bale away from the trellis. It got quite tall and heavy. now it has slumped forward down onto the lawn. I really need to get on it and stake the poor thing up somehow.

I didn't take a lot of pictures this morning. The strawberry is doing well. We planted it over by our lilac starts (which are also doing well). 

The lettuce varieties are all continuing to produce delicious treats. 

The celery continues to grow, unmolested and with little attention paid. We water and fertilize but otherwise leave it alone. 

Cabbages are doing great. The pumpkin and watermelon (or is it cucamelon) are growing. 

Cucumbers continue to disappoint. The vine is still single and the produce has been quite small. I need to seed in more of these little guys. Last year, we were up to our eyeballs in cukes. 

Spaghetti squash is off and running, with many little guys growing on the vine. The squash borers have already gotten to this vine. :( :( :( I'm hoping that it can put down additional roots in the grass and save itself. I am not sure that it can. :( 

Butternut squash has been planted for my Dad/in his memory. We have four wee plants setting root into bales right now.

I have yet to see the carrots sprout but I am sincerely hoping that they will. If not, I may have to give up on them for the year. I do know that bird are *really* fond of carrot sprouts. It is entirely possible that they are getting to my carrots before I am out to see if they've sprouted. I haven't been able to get a mesh plant cover yet. I really need to.

Anyway, that's what is growing in our neck of the woods. :) I have long since quit naming each variety of every plant that we have. If you are curious you can always check that link here. 

Happy summer, everyone! :)