Greetings my fellow plant enthusiasts! I hope you all are starting to celebrate some successes in your gardens, as we are looking forward to more good things coming our way here in Atlanta. Summer is just around the corner, though we've had a week of blessedly cool and comfortable days around here that have been perfect for getting out in the garden!
You may be able to guess my first success from the cover photo...eggplants are on the horizon! After a few years not being able to get my seedlings to thrive, I finally have some good-looking eggplant plants again. The Melanzane Rosso Di Rotonda variety is taking the lead with four plants sporting flower. Though I have a few Nagasaki Long that have withstood the onslaught of bug-nibbling to be growing nicely, as well.
My first batch of cherry tomato plants is starting to show out. Lots of flowers and fruit on the way! That's one of the reasons we do like growing the smaller fruit--they can be enjoyed much faster than the larger tomato varieties. Which, by the way, tanked for me this year! Growing from seeds is always a challenge, though I gladly take it on each year to be able to grow so many heirloom varieties that you can't find in the grocery store.
Since we only have about six plants that made it to maturity, I'm actually going to try to propagate from suckers this year. A few of these should be ready to snip off soon so I can plant them in the bed and see if they'll give us another round of plants with juicy little globes of tomato to look forward to!
My corn seems to be doing well, so I'm keeping an eye out to make sure I can actually harvest these babies at the right time! We tried growing a few stalks last year, but they got overwhelmed by volunteer tomato plants and I think I missed the window to pull them off. They are in a bed all to themselves this time around--much easier to keep up with!
I could write a whole post just on squash, but I'll keep it short and sweet. The pumpkins seem to be doing well, along with what I think may be a volunteer butternut squash plant. We always seem to get at least one or two volunteer squashes that pop up that outperform everything I plant, haha. Though with the appearance of the first Zucchino Rampicantes, I think it will give the volunteers a run for the money on the abundance side of things.
What is not as abundant as I hoped are the zucchinis and patty pan squashes. They were looking fantastic last month, but I'm not quite sure they're happy in the bed I'm growing them in this year. Lots of baby fruit growing, but then they don't seem to make it to harvesting stage. There are plenty of pollinators, so that's not the issue. We haven't done much with this small bed in a while, so I'm wondering if we may need to bulk up the nutrients in the soil a bit more.
On the fruit side of things, my figs have bounced back nicely from the beetle attack last year. We have quite a bit of fruit growing on the other larger plant, but I'm happy to see this little guy finally start to fill out. My plum tree has exactly two plums left on it, so I'm happy we'll at least have some figs while we wait until next year for the plums to be mature enough to carry fruit!
Finally, I'll finish out our journey with my final garden bed...
...and our fluffy garden friend. This little guy has become a regular visitor in the backyard, which I always love to see. They generally have never been a problem eating any of our garden loot--it's always the chipmunks and the squirrels that are relentless thieves! A few years ago I did have to deter one from nesting in the tomato bed, but otherwise we have a nice peaceful co-existence.
This one has decided the bed surrounded by oregano and lemon balm would make a lovely home. I have a hard time evicting such a cutie out of a largely unproductive bed (I've got a few cucumbers in there, but otherwise just the herbs on the perimeter). I suppose there is a danger in letting them get too cozy as they may realize how delicious my garden loot is, but I just love to watch them while I relax on the back porch!
There are a few other things coming along, as well, but I think that's a good place to end on for now! The farmers market is full of abundance right now, so while I can't wait for more to come out of our own garden, we are definitely not going hungry!
Happy growing!
congratulations and keep the good work up. Our garden also thriving and fruitful,which is such a blessing if we consider the high inflation happening everywhere
Thank you @latinowinner! I'm glad you're having a thriving season, as well. It really does help those food budgets, not to mention how enjoyable it is to grow your own. Wishing you much more abundance to come!
Yay! Another season of gardening!
In Georgia, you must be so much farther ahead in the season than we are up here in Canada. There were frost warnings here even this week!
We have had intermittent rain and sun here so far this garden season which might end up being perfect. I have a barrel full of rain and will get into the garden when it stops to shoot some pics of my sprouts!
Hooray for garden season!
It is a fantastic time of year, @zekepickleman! Yes, we are quite a ways ahead. Strawberries are almost done, so I always get slightly envious when I see you folks up north getting them in June and July when I have to wait another year for them to come back around, haha.
I hope this is the last of the frost for you so that your garden can start getting into full swing here soon. I look forward to seeing how yours turns out this season!
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Such a cute little bunny!!!!
So cute! Though we've had a hawk visit the last couple of days, so I'm hoping he leaves this little guy alone!
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Hello @riverflows, it looks like you folks have been busy and there's nothing like some cool pleasant weather like you mentioned to enjoy gardening.
I'm not sure how that rabbit isn't devouring everything in sight, all of that healthy greenery looks so delicious.
We've yet to harvest anything but some of the radishes are right around the corner from being plucked into my cake hole while I'm watering in the area.
In the picture with the rabbit in it, is that a Dill plant, it sure looks like it. If it is, good for you, that herb is not easy to grow, especially here.
Fruit trees can also be a challenge, but once one sees some fruit set on whatever type of fruit tree they may be cultivating it's all smiles. Good to see that the little fig tree made it through the winter and seems to be flourishing.
Have a great weekend and it's good to hear from you.
Hey @thebigsweed! Always nice to get a visit.
I don't know how we've been so lucky with the bunnies staying pretty happy with the grass and not gobbling up our garden loot. Perhaps it's nature evening out the score since the chipmunks, squirrels and bugs give us enough run for our money? Haha
That is a bronze fennel plant by the rabbit. We occasionally get dill to pop up for a bit, but as soon as the heat comes on strong they always die off fast. Which is a shame since I love dill! And it never seems to last into cucumber season for pickling.
We ended up pulling off two little plums yesterday. Despite the tiny harvest, they were absolutely delicious! I'm very much looking forward to next year and hopefully getting lots more!
I hope those radishes are ready for you soon!
Good morning, it seems that we have the same critters, but they don't seem to be causing too much damage. Our biggest problems are slugs. It's a morning ritual, grab the scissors and cut slugs, just yesterday I had to snip at least 100 of them, they love the greenery of the potatoes.
We've got a few pots of dill and they're doing great. Last year I planted them too early and by the time the cucumbers came in they were not at their peak.
This year I think I've got them timed just right.
Your plum tree sounds like my apple tree, only 2 apples, and the dam ants destroyed one just a few days before I was going to pick them.
I picked our first radish yesterday and it was the size of a golf ball, that works for me.