Saturday, July 8, 2017

Summer garden news

The whole garden, with painted fence behind
When our next-door neighbors put up a privacy fence, complete with lots of rusted metal, I asked them if they had any problem with me getting someone to paint a picture on it. When they said it was fine, my friend Ellen came out and took a look, and yesterday she did it! There's SG standing in the garden with a shovel (just for display, he doesn't actually USE it), and now you can see that our garden is looking very, very fine.
My garden plot, with flowers in the foreground
You can see that my flowers are looking good, with three tomato plants just behind them (that's one of those garden lights that uses solar power and looks fantastic at night when I'm asleep), then my sugar snap peas, right at the end of their life, and behind them are my prolific raspberries. I'll be spending some time today out there picking, since they are all ripening at once. Here are some of my gardening pals.
Lily is working in her garden spot
Lily got her corn in rather late, and it's now coming along well, but it was only a few inches high on Independence Day. You know what they say about that. (It should be knee-high by the 4th of July.) Her spot is right next to mine; you can see my flowers in the middle left of the picture.
Pat working hard in his garden
Pat's corn, however, really is knee high, right on time. He was gone for awhile on an extended bicycle trip and is now catching up on his weeding. Obviously he rarely wore a shirt on his ride, because he's brown everywhere I care to see! He also used his weed whacker to rid us of lots of pesky grass.
Hedi, with her garden on the left, under her right arm
Hedi's garden is doing really well. I think she has planted more different items in her garden than anybody else, and it's all growing like crazy. I gave her some of my scarlet runner beans and they are already beginning to climb the fence. I'll show you some pictures when they really begin to take off.
SG inspecting the raspberries
Um-hmm. Here is SG out there helping me pick the raspberries, except during his "inspection" they don't seem to be making it very far from the vine before ending up in his tummy! I know how it is; by the time I'm finished picking, I'm not hungry at all for some reason.
Ellen's painting
And finally, a closeup of that fence Ellen painted. In the foreground is our community area, which has squash plants and sunflowers, which aren't looking like much. I really like that cloud that looks like a backwards arrow. Well, that's what our community garden looks like today. Isn't it wonderful?
:-)

19 comments:

  1. Kudos to all the effort put forth on this wonderful allotment. You'll be selling at the Farmer's Market before long :)
    The space looks so very neat and tidy, and producing it's little heart out.
    I love the painted fence, what a fantastic job !
    ~Jo

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  2. Really, really wonderful. Love your community - and its garden. Envy you the raspberries.

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  3. I love your garden stories. Looks like everything is doing well.

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  4. The painted fence is such a clever idea ... and the colors go with the garden too.

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  5. I love the fence mural. Adds a lot to your garden area.

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  6. I enjoyed seeing the whole garden. The painted fence is great.
    Looks like you have room for a few more plots.

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  7. Your garden looks great!! So does the painting! :)

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  8. Great idea to disguise an ugly fence!

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  9. You grow great gardens and have good friends.

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  10. Nice garden. You made a typo in that caption for the top photo: It should be painted not panted.

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  11. What a brilliant concept to cheer up the look of an ugly fence. Raspberries on plants do tend to be easily made into a snack while working in the garden. I find cherry tomatoes also find their way into the tummy rather easily.

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  12. Love the community aspect of the garden. Well done, everyone!

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  13. Gardens look great and it was nice to see some of your gardening companions and the pretty painted fence. :)

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  14. Wow, the garden looks great! And love that painting!

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  15. If only all problems were solved like you did. Instead of getting all up in the guy's face about his ugly fence, you came up with a brilliant solution that offended no one yet really added to your view. Hey, if you want to run for office, I'll vote for you.
    The garden is looking amazing.

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  16. Dear DJan, your community garden is indeed wonderful. I'd like to say its fantastic because it surely represents a communal/group effort to do what is good for the environment and for your own souls. I say that because when I used to have veggie gardens and perennial gardens--up in Minnesota--I found great peace when working in them. Whether it was pulling weeds or staking or harvesting a crop of flowers or veggies I just left joyous. I think you do too. Congratulations on all your work! Peace.

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  17. Art work is lovely, gardens are fruitful...but I must say it depends on who's knees you use to measure the corn....it just may very well be up to MY knees. I'm short and getting shorter by the day as I get older. I didn't realize we shrink that much....I used to be 6 feet tall [kidding!!!!!]

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  18. I love your idea for the fence. It's so very beautifully done and really improves the atmosphere. Your garden is growing so amazingly. The garden is not just a place where you can grow plants for your table, but a place for friendships.

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  19. This is a wonderful idea. I like that cloud too. Nice to see your SG and gardeners enjoying the lovely gardens and sun. :)

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