Good morning gardeners. As many of you know, last weekend Frankenoid and her family entered the land of the bereaved with the tragic suicide of her nephew. Today she is out of town attending the funeral. I know that all of us are keeping Frankenoid and her family in our thoughts and prayers.
Today I am serving as the guest host of Saturday Morning Garden Blogging. Please follow me below the orange fold, and I will show you what is happening in my garden in south-central New Jersey.
As everyone who lives in the Mid-Atlantic region knows, it has been an unbelievably rainy summer, and some of my veggies have suffered for it. My tomatoes are not where they should be. I have picked some sweet 100s and one small Patio Pick. I don't expect a really good harvest this year. The largest of my celebrity hybrid tomatoes is the size of a green golf ball. I am picking zucchini, and my cucumbers are coming along. As a result of the cool summer, I was picking snap peas well into the middle of July. I just removed the last of the vines about a week ago. I planted a second crop of green beans for the fall, and they literally germinated overnight. I have never seen anything grow so fast! I also planted a giant pumpkin and a gourd near some ugly of shrubs that were planted by the previous owner of my house. Here you can see the vines climbing up the shrub:
Although this has not been a great year for vegetables, my flower garden is looking good. Here are a few pictures.
Here are my false sunflowers:
and here are some portulacas that I put in an old hanging basket:
I really like the perennial combos that some of the garden centers are selling. This is a mixture of English daisies and flycatchers:
Finally, here are some flowers that I did not grow. I have a small share in our local CSA (community sponsored agriculture) farm. As part of our share, we can cut some flowers every week. Here are a few of them:
I took everyone's advice, and I have added some plants to my sun room. I bough a nice big mother-in-law's tongue (blue jersey dad calls it a snake plant) and put it on a plant stand with wheels. I also put together a hanging planter full of spider plants. Lowe's was selling them for 75 cents each. I do have afternoon sun on the south-facing windows (it was hard to tell since the sun has not shined in NJ since May), so I am looking for more suggestions for plants.
Frankenoid always posts such lovely pictures, so I sent blue jersey dad out into the garden to take some "artsy" shots. Here's what he came up with:
These are some of the flowers on my hostas:
And here are some of the flowers from one of my containers:
So what's happening in your neck of the woods?