A few garden pictures

We’re just about to enter the best time of the year for gardeners… time to eat!

There is a lot of space left in the garden for sunflowers. We cleared out a good section in Chris’s half of the garden (not pictured….) for sunflowers as well, so assuming my planting schedule is fairly accurate, we’ll be set for the wedding this September.

The perennial beds have filled in quite a bit! I put basil in the holes in the front, and just weeded/thinned that out this weekend. I had originally planned on strawberries, but I decided that I like my concrete beds so much that I’m going to build another one, twice the size of each of these, along the south side of the garden (starting where this one ends, heading in the opposite direction). I’ll use part of that for strawberries next year.

In the back of the perennial beds are second year onions, planted for their really neat flower heads. Those are just now starting to bloom.

I picked a few heads of broccoli this afternoon (one was just about to flower, oops!). The temperatures are going to rise this week so I hope some of the smaller heads will hold out for a few days. I started these in early March, and they are just now producing, nearly 120 days later. They’re supposed to be “55 days” – not sure if this is an indication that our soil could use some more work, or if this is normal for Minnesota gardening. Any cole crop growers want to chime in? We’ve *never* had Brussels sprouts mature before October, and we also start those the first week in March.

Also above (click on the picture for a better view), there are daisies and a volunteer sunflower in front of the broccoli; tomatoes behind. In the next row is another sunflower and radishes, and more tomatoes.

Carrots and chard above. Last year my carrots were a lot thicker; we had really strong rainfall (3″ in a day or two) a few days after I seeded these, so I’m guessing a lot of the seeds washed away.

Another shot of the garden, from the back. Lots of room for fall crops and more sunflowers!