June Garden

When I went out to work in the garden this morning, the title from a book on my shelf – Nature’s Unruly Mob – came to mind.  Sporadic rain, mid-90s heat, and my neglect while I have been packing have let things get a little wild. 

The tithonia had grown so tall it was shading the tomatoes and completely covering the peppers.  A big orange, decaying, volunteer pumpkin (from a seed in the compost) is a shining example of why we don’t grow Halloween pumpkins in Florida, the broccoli was bolting, and EVERYTHING needs water.

The beans are still coming up nicely though, we are getting about 40 cherry tomatoes each day, the last of the corn was melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and the sunflowers are lovely.  We planted two of the giant kind – the traditional Russian Mammoth and “Sunzilla” next to each other to compare. Sunzilla wins! It’s leaves are larger and its stem (trunk) has buds up and down it instead of the traditional one flower on top of the Mammoth.  Both are eye-catching and fun in the garden though, as are the little guys.

I have to say it is a good thing, though, that we are not relying on this garden to feed our family as the neglect has lost us some produce. It was good for the soul though to keep the garden in spite of the moving chaos and the fact that we will leave before everything’s ready to eat.  Grace and I are throwing out sunflower seeds as we remove the spent plants.  Happiness to the new owners.

And I am dreaming about community gardens and SPIN gardens and guerilla gardens in our new urban home (when I am not lying awake obsessing about the termites in the wood floors...). 

Comments

[Anna]

That sunflower photo is incredible!!!