Back in April, I said that my garden philosophy this year was to “see how it goes.” Wanna see how it’s going?
Okay. That looks a bit dire. I have been mowing a few sections of the vegetable garden for the past several years. I let it go for a few weeks and it went a bit wild. But it has been reclaimed. Or at least cut down again.
I’ve weeded half the raspberries a couple of times, but I feel like I’m not making very much progress on keeping them weeded. My mission is to be able to easily pick raspberries this year. Hence the mowing. The berries are small, but a few are starting to ripen.
We have had suuuuuuper hot weather–exactly what summer should be, in my opinion. But we have had no rain. So everything is suuuuuuper dry. I’m sure the berries would be happier with some moisture, but I’ve not watered them yet.
There is only one more thing I’m paying attention to in the garden. The grapes. Look at all of these bunches of baby grapes! Aren’t they amazing? I am so thrilled there are so many grapes. I am hoping that they grow big and juicy and we’re able to get a good harvest this year, despite all of the neglect.
Also on the to-do list along with watering? Pick off the Japanese beetles. Ugh. So gross.
The other highlights of the garden are things that have received no attention at all.
One hollyhock has returned. Yay! And a fair-size patch of milkweed has sprouted. I guess some good things come from neglect.
The rest of our garden is not in the garden. Matt’s Dad bought us some tomato seedlings back in the spring, and rather than try to clear a spot in the garden, I decided to stick them in pots. So I moved a couple big pots to the front door and set up a little container garden.
There’s a hibiscus, some herbs and the tomatoes. They’re staked and suckered and string trained and everything. Since they’re at the front door, they’re also getting watered regularly because I can’t ignore them.
One pot is doing better than the other, but all the plants have some blossoms, so I’m hoping we see some fruit this year.
Overall, I would say the garden is going. It’s definitely not my ideal garden, but it’s working for me right now.
Home on 129 Acres 
I don’t mow my garden now since it’s raised beds with mulched paths, but there was a time in my life when mowing between rows was the major form of weed control and made picking possible. That was back in my homesteading days, when time for weeding was minimal, and the gardens were huge. The goal was to give your plants a head start, and then keep the paths mowed so they got some sun! It wasn’t pretty, but it produced lots of food. Only the garden near the house actually “looked” like a garden. You do what you can do at each stage in your life, and adapt as it changes. Don’t worry about it!
Thank you for the reassurance. I’m hoping to get to a no-dig, mulch scenario. But I honestly don’t have time for setting that up, any more than I do for weeding! You give me hope I’ll get there some day.
Thank heavens for perennials! Your grapes look abundant, and I’m thinking when you are able to water the raspberries you may get more and/or bigger ones. They are thriving even without!
Ellie is growing so much. She looks like a child and not a baby now. I imagine she enjoys going into the garden and puttering around. I’m sure you both miss Baxter’s help in the garden. He would have laid in the sun extremely proficiently and with great stamina, I’m sure!
Love the hollyhock – they are one of my favourite flowers.
Shae has worked like crazy on our garden all throughout the covid time. It is quite transformed! I’ve just started and have been concentrating on pruning the rhodies. I have no idea if it’s a good time to do that, but it’s the time I can do it, so they are getting a haircut. My stamina is not great yet, but I’m working on that. We’ve had a super cold spring and early summer, so it’s been lovely to be able to get outside at all. Too bad we can’t trade a bit of our weather back and forth! You could have some rain and we could have some warmth. xoxo
Thank you for putting such a nice image of Bax in my mind. He was very good at gardening.
Take it easy and do what you can. And enjoy the weather as you can!
Our garden is absolutely fantastic this year. You know there have been years where I have had to mow the garden. You just do what you got to do at those times.
Thankfully this year I have been able to stay ahead of it. Plus working from home for the last 3+ months has helped. My commute to the office is 1.5 hours round trip, but now I can clock out and walk right out to the garden. I don’t know how much longer I will be working from home but I am taking advantage as long as I can!
Saving commute time makes a huuuuuge difference. I’m glad that one of the results is a good garden year for you. And that Mother Nature has cooperated as well.