Garden Update: Before and After

One of the great things about gardens is that the plants keep on doing their thing, regardless of whether you’re there to coach them along.  (Of course, this goes for weeds, too, but let’s not think about them for the moment.)

Remember this?

Let’s see how close we are to that in reality.

Holy cow, I had no idea how much the garlic had grown, there in the back!  So the peas are being less than enthusiastic, and the carrots and beets are a bit spotty…but things are coming along.  There are also some tomato and pepper plants in there.  The cucumber on this side never germinated (old seeds), but there’s a small one on the other side which is even less enthusiastic than the peas.

 I learned an important lesson this spring about jumping the gun.  I had to re-seed everything because obviously the ground was too cold when I first put the garden in.  We also got hit by a no-fair frost a couple weeks ago.  Miss Chef and I had covered everything carefully, but we had to replace several tomatoes, and I’m not sure if the peppers will recover sufficiently to produce.  Still, I will leave them to their own devices, ‘cause I’m sure they know what to do.

 Now, let’s check out those snapdragons putting on a show way in the back!

They make great cut flowers, too, lasting for weeks.

 Remember this story?

How’s this for transformations?

It’s like a whole field of wildflowers stuffed into a bed.  Sure, they sort of dangle over half the sidewalk, making it a little difficult to walk down it.  I supposed I could cut them all back and stash them in a vase.  But I kind of enjoy walking through a wildflower patch on my way home from work.

Now you get to picture me lying on my back on that sidewalk, in full view of the street.  Anything for my art.

But of course, my favorite picture of all is the one I took without even looking:

See?  They know how to take care of themselves, even with a camera.