Straw Bale Garden Update - June 2022

    Straw Bale Garden (SBG) update time has *finally* arrived. I know that I've run quite behind this year. I haven't posted anything before this besides a list of seeds. Ha! That said, I have had an increasingly busy springtime. My kiddos are rapidly growing up before my eyes. With that comes balancing jobs (three out of four of us and just the one car) and more outings than ever. My Giraffe and Koala are growing faster than any plant on the property. :) Fortunately, I've gotten some really cute pictures of them through the spring, too! ;) ;) ;) 

    I have added some photos to this blog. Please know that they range from a month ago to the present. This past week has been HOT and the garden is suffering for it. 

    Most of the new plants are still seedlings we literally just planted this morning into vacancies left by other plants that did not survive. Even so, we have worked very hard and are praying to eventually have a good bounty to share. Today and tomorrow are in the eighty-degree range and then it is back to the nineties for the foreseeable future. Yikes!

    I twenty-five bales and some pots. Items marked with * are all seedlings that were set out just this morning. Growing all around the yard are: 

TOMATOES

Kellogg's Breakfast 
Purple Bumblebee  *
Sunrise Bumblebee *
Pink Bumblebee  *
Ground Cherries *
Indigo Pear *
Striped German
Large Barred Boar *
Black Strawberry *
Pink Brandywine
Yellow Brandywine 
Blueberries Tomato *
Climbing Trip-L Crop
Spoon Tomatoes *
Nebraska Wedding
Chef's Choice Pink
Garnet
Gardner's Sweetheart
Flamingo Burst
Solar Flare
Dino Eggs
Hillbilly Potato Leaf
Porkchop
Banana Legs
Stump of the World
Dr. Wyche's Yellow
Little Birdy Rosey Finch
Little Birdy Yellow Canary
Siam

We *may* have a Pink Syberian tiger out there, or another of the plants we set out but thought died. Somehow or another, the tags that were with them were blown away or carried off in the night, so there are several of what we like to call "My's Mystery" tomatoes. Once they bear fruit, I will have a better idea of just who they are. I am really hoping against hope that my Orange Accordion tomatoes will show up in there somewhere. I was quite excited to try them this year. I am almost positive that my Spoon tomatoes and my Ground Cherries aren't going to make it. I've never in my life seen such wee little/fragile tomato seedlings. It makes sense that they are tiny. Next year, I will start earlier and pamper the life into them.

VEGGIES

Marketmore Cucumber
Tendergreen Burpless Cucumber
Northeastern Pole Beans
Snap Peas
Poblano Peppers
Green Bell Peppers
California Bell Peppers
Ancho Peppers
Broccoli 
Purple Peacock Broccoli 
Celery (just a baby!)
Buttercrunch Lettuce
Arugula
Strawberry Spinach

We still have to sow carrots, radishes, turnips, and a few other things. Depending on how the weather goes, that may happen this week or not. 

HERBS

Cilantro                   
Sage

Curly Leaf Parsley                   

Italian Parsley                          

Greek Oregano

Chives

Thyme

There are some herbs that I haven't been successful with. These include Chamomile, Lemon Mint, Anise, and Summer Savory. I believe I went wrong by trying to start those in regular seed starting pods, rather than sowing them directly into dirt or a bale under some dirt.

FRUIT

Strawberries

Grapes

Tigger Melon

Yamato Cream Watermelon (these will be yellow inside!)

Crimson Sweet Watermelon

Our Hale's Best Jumbo cantaloupe have all died or been eaten. Like I said, my garden has struggled this year. Today is the third time we've gone out with a fresh batch of seedlings to plug in holes. It has been really frustrating for me, but we keep pushing on. 

FLOWERS

Black Cotton
Chinese Hibiscus
Capt Marguerite
Bolivian Begonia
Garden Petunias - in several colors
Wild Pansy - several colors
Roses - several colors
Morning Glory
Sunflower 

Note: Koala's sunflowers keep getting chopped down by the lawn guy. This may take forever to actually get one all the way up. I also have my lilacs, which are done flowering for the year, and the ever-present Honeysuckle that sneaks in randomly wherever it wishes. 

SQUASH

Waltham Butternut
Black Beauty Zucchini
"Surprise" squash whose tag we lost and I planted nearby the house *facepalm*

My squash was killed and/or died *so* fast. I had Yellow Crookneck, Butternut, Butterscotch, Spaghetti Squash, and Delicata loaded up in my arches. They simply didn't make it. I will try again, but no promises. 

My garden still *looks* rather empty, as many spaces are filled with the tiniest of seedlings. It is also visibly burned from a long week in the sun. Sarting Monday, there is no end of scorching temperatures in the extended forecast. 

I am often praying that every plant will have a good year, regardless. I hate to end on scorched garden pics, but it does bring us right up to the present, so there you have it. <3