The garden has been progressing nicely this month. All of the veggie plants are producing veggies. The strawberry plants have slowed down but they're still producing a few berries here and there. The summer has been fairly mild this year with a few really hot days mixed in which seems to be making all of the plants happy. Now if we could get a few soaking rains the garden would be really happy.
The tomato plants all have green tomatoes on them. We just need a few more really hot days to ripen them up. The cucumbers have been growing like gangbusters. I've already harvested over a dozen pickling cucumbers and about half-dozen burpless cucumbers. There have also been three yellow squash and one zucchini. The green beans keep plugging away even though they look like they might have contracted some disease. I need to spray them with something to see if the leaves will green-up again. Bugs are getting to the tomato and squash leaves also. I hate using chemicals but there are so many good, organic products out there now that I can use. I'll check the reviews and get the one that's best. Almost all of the corn stalks have ears on them. I think I counted about ten ears in total. I've never grown corn before so I'm excited about those.
The herbs are all growing out of control. I've cut back the thyme, rosemary, dill and oregano which has made the plants much happier. I plan to cut back the cat mint and lavender after they flower. I might also harvest more of the oregano since the plant has gotten so big this year.
The violas in the cross on the hill were looking dead so I finally pulled them up and trimmed the grass around the cross. I still need to line or edge the cross so the grass can't crowd back in and take over. I also need to buy some hearty, drought resistant annuals and plant those in the cross to add some color.
The plant 'sale' was a success on Sunday. I harvested some of the volunteer basil, tomato, and crepe myrtle plants that were coming up on their own in the garden and potted them. Then I put them out with the weekly produce for people to take. This time I put a container out for donations and explained to those who were curious that the garden budget had been restricted this year and that donations were welcome to keep the garden going. Everyone was very receptive. The donation box had a little over $20 inside and all of the produce and more than half of the plants were gone. I will put the rest of the plants out every Sunday until they are gone. If they don't get adopted I can put an APB out to other gardeners and see if they want them for a possible donation. I have one friend who puts her extra plants up on craigslist every year and she always has takers. I'll need to check into the fundraising rules to see if I am allowed to ask for money for the plants from non-church members. I know when I was a girl scout leader that we had restrictions about fundraising.
I will post pictures of the overgrown garden and the cross with fresh annuals as soon as I get a breather. It seems like there is always something that needs to get done. But, I'm not complaining. I feel blessed to be able to garden at my church with very few restrictions and plenty of space to work with. I just wish the poison ivy wasn't trying to take over in some places. I guess I better get some spray for that too. *sigh*
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