July in the Garden

Happy Fourth of July! I hope everyone has a safe and fun celebration this weekend. My family and I went to watch our town's fireworks display and ended up finding the perfect spot right underneath the show. It was spectacular, albeit very loud. What better way to celebrate our country than a beautiful light show?

Anyway, we've reached the middle of the season. The garden has slowed down now that everything is planted. There's quite a bit of weeding to do if it will stay dry long enough, which you shall see in the images, but the rush to get things in the ground is over. This spring's kids are almost old enough to go their new homes, and the fall birthing season is still a couple of months away. The garden isn't ready for harvest just yet. All in all, things have hit their stride and will be much lower maintenance for a few weeks...at least in theory. :)

Our poor little bottle tree is sparse looking! We'll have it fleshed out soon, though.

We've had some trouble with our tomatoes. We lost a few plants to Southern Blight/white mold, and have been picking leaves off of others as they get affected with blight. The warm wet weather we've had is what fuels fungus such as blight. Milk washes, baking soda drenches, and apple cider vinegar water have helped some but it's an ongoing battle. We also lost our first, biggest tomato to a renegade hen who jumped the fence. They're making again, though, so I'm hopeful we'll at least end up with enough for one batch of salsa!

He was going to be a pretty one, but alas. The chicken beat us to it.

Can you believe this puny plant, which has really struggled with blight, has a tomato?

The lettuce has bolted, so its season is over until the fall. So pretty, though, isn't it? It could practically be an ornamental.

The bush peas are doing the best, as always. Peas are pretty fool-proof. We've never had a failed crop with them. They're blooming and vining and making tiny pea pods. We'll be having fresh peas for supper in no time!

Our bush lima beans are doing well, too. Lima beans are my favorite legume.

We planted a later crop of pole beans and peas, and they are coming up well...but so are the weeds!

Our cantaloupe is blooming. The first blossoms won't make fruit, but it's a sign that my favorite melons are on the way!

I planted a few sweet potato plants, which is a first for us. They haven't bloomed yet but are doing well, aside from the weeds that are over taking them! Yikes!

Okra is growing like a weed, too...but it also needs to be weeded, as you can see.

Can you spy the volunteer watermelon?

Our watermelon got planted late, but it's coming on. Our garden retains moisture well, but sometimes in a rainy season that means complications in planting and weeding!

We also planted an Arkansas Black Apple tree this year. It won't produce for a few years. We may not even be living on this land by the time it's in full swing, but it's never a bad investment to plant a tree.

Our pumpkin patch, which I don't have pictures of, is doing really well. However, it is the worst for the weeds. Right after we planted the rains came and didn't let up for a while, and the weeds just took off. We'll be tackling it this weekend, and working on weeding and mulching the rest throughout the weed.

We also have some new life here at Tiramar. Our broody hen just hatched several (I just realized I haven't even counted them! Whoops!) pheasant eggs and one chicken egg. (I put a chicken egg under her with the pheasant eggs just in case, so that she wouldn't reject the smaller eggs.) One hatched out weak and has had to spend a lot of time indoors. I'm not sure he will make it. I tried returning him to mama, but he just wasn't strong enough yet and I had to remove him again. A second chick had a really rough hatch and spent the first 24 hours indoors, but I have since returned him. He is doing so well that I can't even tell which one he is at this point. These guys will stay with our hen in the off-ground brooder for a while and then be transferred to a tractor, where they will finish growing out. I'm hoping a couple might be butchering age in time for Christmas dinner. Hopefully the chicken chick, which came from our RIR rooster and a Black Copper Maran egg, will be a hen!

Yes, they are in a modified laundry basket. Their wooden nest box ended
up not being big enough, so we had to improvise!

You can somewhat tell in this image how much bigger the chicken chick is.

Is this one giving me the stink eye?

Clever camouflage, but I can still see you.

Now we weed, and then we wait for the harvest and for the time to start planting our fall crops. Fall goat kids should be on the way, too. We won't be in a lull for long!

Cheers!