Let's walk, shall we?

Just around the gardens, so it won't take long unless you've got a lot of questions or advice.

My remote bed is full of shadows in this picture, but not doing too badly. As at home, the corn isn't doing much there. I companion-planted it with climbing peas but wherever I got that advice didn't live in our climate. The peas are WAAY more advanced than the corn and have nothing to climb. I had a particularly great batch of canola or mustard in this bed that I've never had before. I left it until it bloomed because I thought they might be my zinnias. Alas, while pretty, they were massive weeds and very fast growing. It looks better now. There's still one in this picture.

Now to my own house...

This is the view I see out of my bedroom window and I usually gaze out first thing in the morning as if to see if any miracles happened overnight. Even if it's not the most productive garden, I never got as much enjoyment out of the grass that used to be there.

Just outside the front door is this small bed of tomatoes and a few potatoes. And my two lovely rain barrels from the Italian Centre. They buy their olives in these bulk containers and then sell them off pretty cheaply out the back door. That was quite a find for me this year. I don't think I've ever been that excited by either black plastic or olives.

Calendula and pink poppies can be seen all over the garden. I love the colour of the poppies and their fluffy heads. If I don't think they're choking out anything, I let them grow where they want and easily pull them when they're done (in a couple of weeks). Sometimes I save a cup of seeds for eating or planting again. The calendula is going to be made into a cream for my hands and feet. I started drying the first heads today.

More of the front bed. The carrots need thinning but I was hoping to get some pickling carrots out of them so they still have to grow for a bit. The beans have just started with 1" beans on them. I can't wait! But what's with the garlic in the front? Do they always do this, or were they flattened in the rain? I've never grown garlic before.

Although it's hard to see the brick paths through the jungle of poppies and weeds, this is a triangle of perennial herbs. I've cut the oregano to the ground once and dried it and it's come back looking great after the days of rain we just had.

This is the newest veggie patch, mixed with some of the perennials that I couldn't part with. After removing the big central bush, I must say that I don't miss it at all. Although, I had planned to plant a privacy screen of cucumbers (on the supports shown) and corn. Hmm, do you see how private it is to sit on my new chairs?

No? Sigh. The cucumbers are actually growing, but not reaching for their strings, and this is the corn.

It is growing and is about 1.5 feet high, but it's blooming already. I highly doubt I'll get any cobs off these and no privacy. I'm not sure why I keep trying corn. Although I dumped a bunch of manure in this bed, it's got the worst soil of all my beds. I'm going to work on that. At the end of July I've got more manure coming, and in the fall all of my compost bins are being emptied and dug into my gardens. Over time it should get where I want it to be.

I tried a few fava beans for the first time, hopefully for drying. Beans and tomato paste are among the few canned goods I still buy. I can't make tomato paste (I've tried), but I should be able to stop buying canned beans. These are totally unlike green beans in their growth, so I'm curious to see how the beans form. And they have no interest in the support whatsoever but I put them there because all of the Italians do it. They must know what they are doing, right? Maybe I'll have to tie them to the stakes when they get too tall. I'll walk around Little Italy soon and see what they do.

One of my last purely flower beds. The golden elder died to the ground this winter and is now as tall as I am.

And this allium is very out of season, but I love it. If only there were more. I've just got the one and we've been watching it closely as the flower head formed and is finally blooming.

This is my tiny Evans Cherry tree. The first foot of it has leaves but otherwise looks unpromising. In five years I hope that will not be the case. I surrounded it with the most beautiful tulips (obviously done blooming) and some tiny seeded asters. I never have luck with asters, but I keep trying.

As you round the corner into the back yard, you walk along our new strawberry patch. I've had to cover them to keep the sparrows from getting everything, but even so these strawberries have mostly been wonky and stunted. The patch in the front garden is producing beautiful berries, about five a day. Nothing for jam at them moment! And that Virginia Creeper just will not die. After a white fly infestation I tried to get rid of it two years ago. It's looking healthy this year so I'm giving it a third (?) chance.

I hate the back yard when I look at the big picture, but the garden itself does well back here. The soil must be better and the stucco wall gets nice and hot for tomatoes. I think I'll try peppers here next year if I must do crop rotations.

And this is the original plot that was here when we moved in. Although unappealing to me in it's rectangularness (it's a word if you use it often enough), it actually produces well. The blue delphinium has never been as happy as it is this year.

And I didn't make it out to the alley with the camera, but the sorrel has settled in (I got three plants this year from a friend), the comfrey is doing great (to help speed up the compost), and the raspberries are just starting to turn red. Beth ate the first berry yesterday. The rain should nicely plump them up because I'm pretty irregular about watering the alley.

And that's it. How's your garden doing?