Belfast Garden Tour #3
It’s garden tour season here in Maine. I’ve missed the first few weeks, but I finally made it one last Friday and then to the George’s River Land Trust Garden tour yesterday. Here is the garden from the Belfast Garden Club Tour on Saturday.
One of the things I love about garden tours is that you get to look at real garden (at least most of them). I realize that my garden is just as great as most gardens. We often forget when looking at magazines and Pinterest photos that we’re looking at gardens that have been nipped and tucked, clipped and cleaned beyond what most of us can do. As a photographer, I also know that you can shoot around certain things, use depth of field to hide others, and use the light to get things to look different than they do in person.
Do you ever go on local garden tours?
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Parade of Blooms
“Gardens are not just plots for growing vegetables and flowers, these are places for growing people”
– The Soul Gardener
It occurred to me that I haven’t given you a parade of things blooming in the garden recently. I feel like the end of June through the end of July is really one of the best times in this garden. In the future I have plans to add more for interest throughout, but at the moment, it’s a high summer garden. I went out last night and tried to get a photo of just about everything that was in bloom. Here’s what blooming in the gardens of Chiot’s Run.
There are wild flowers and cultivated flowers, edible plants and those simply meant to feed the soul, things I planted and many that were here when I arrived. Most of them need dug up and moved to a nursery bed while I try to rid the beds of invasive weeds. It’s a big process starting a new garden, but I can guarantee that I’ll grow more than the garden in the years that come.
What’s blooming in your garden this week?
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Friday Favorite: Peony Poppies
I am completely enamored by the peony poppies in my potager. I tried growing these beauties in Ohio and they just didn’t care for the soil there. Here, they thrive and that makes me happy. They are one of my favorite flowers, so delicate and lovely. I also appreciate that the pollinators love them, there’s something wonderful about seeing the bees enjoy them as much as I do.
One of the best things about these beauties is that they sow themselves so I don’t have to worry about seeding them every year. Now that’s another big reason to love them. Though I’d sow the seed myself if I had to, in fact I’ll probably save seed to sow in other parts of the garden.
What flowers are you enjoying in your garden right now?
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Happy 4th
When I was younger, I remember my mom always trying to have a ripe tomato by July 4th. She used wall of waters, started planted early, and did all sorts of things to have tomatoes extra early. This year, I started ‘Glacier’ and ‘Stupice’ in early April. I planted some in the garden and some in pots. The ones in pots produced lovely ripe tomatoes on the 4th of July.
This isn’t too bad for Maine with no greenhouse. Next year I may try growing some in a low tunnel to see if that hastens ripening.
If you live in a colder climate, consider starting a few cold tolerant varieties and grow them in pots in a sunny location. The warmth of the soil in a container will help them grow and fruit faster.
I also realized that I haven’t yet published my list of the tomato varieties I’m growing this year, it includes a few old favorites and some new and exciting ones as well. I think I might wait until I start getting a few ripe ones so I can show you what they look like.
What’s the earliest you have harvested a tomato in your garden?
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Bountiful Broccoli
I’ve been growing broccoli for many years, always growing different varieties and seeding them every couple weeks to extend the harvest. Yet I always seem to end up with all my broccoli coming on at the same time. This year, I was intrigued by the ‘All Season Blend’ broccoli from Renee’s Garden. There are three different varieties in one see packet, perfect for those of us who don’t want to buy three different packets and for those of us that don’t want to be seeding broccoli every three weeks for two months.
Here you can see the three varieties as they currently stand in my garden. I’m harvesting the first variety now, the second will be ready just as I’ve finished with the first, and there are a few of the late seasons that are just starting to show tiny heads.
Overall, I’m extremely satisfied with this seed. I’ll be adding it to my must buy list from Renee’s every year (along with ‘Catalina’ spinach). I just seeded more for a fall crop and I expect to have the same success with them as well.
Do you grow broccoli? Do you try to plant in succession or grow different varieties for a longer harvest?
