Garden Update

With all of my focus on my Basil Mini Series, it feels like its been a while since I gave an update on the rest of the items in the Concrete Garden Bed. With the wave of harvesting that took place over the last month now over, the majority of the garden has settled down into growing mode or is resting ahead of the fall season. The obvious exceptions being the Herbs which have been doing so well that I'm considering adding a small separate Concrete Plot next year just for them. I've moved into a maintenance mode at the moment for those plants we do still have. It's important to keep the plants healthy through the blazing hot days and the almost daily afternoon/evening rainstorms.

 

Here is a great overhead shot of the main garden. 

Firstly we have the previously mentioned herbs consisting of the Basil, Tarragon (below the Basil) and Onion Chives (to the right of the Basil). All of the Herbs are being gently harvested as we need them in the kitchen. 

Then the rest of the garden has a few other plants at various growing stages. At the far bottom we have some freshly transplanted Pumpkin Seedlings which I'm going to try growing for the next month before deciding whether to keep them. On the far left we have two Soy Bean plants that I have growing in the mini garden squares that I have running around the main bed. They did well in these squares as you will recall when they were next to the Cucumbers and I've had them growing there for three weeks. I'm hoping to start seeing some seed pods growing soon. 

Finally in the background we have the Cucumber plants. Here are a couple of close up photos.

 On the left we have a great shot of the plants with a Marigold plant hiding on the far right. There are actually two Marigold plants, one on either side of the plants. I brought them in to help me combat the Aphid invasion that I have been constantly battling for several weeks. I'm glad to say that I'm finally seeing these efforts paying off. I've been using a combination of organic sprays, helpful insects, water jets and aggressive leave removal. The plants have been almost Aphid free for a week or so now and the plants are putting forth new leaves and plenty of female flowers. I've also included a close up of a growing cucumber that I spotted this morning and I'm hoping it will be ready by next weekend. 

Talking of  a crop that I'm hoping will start producing soon, here's a shot of one side of my Argo Tower and the carrots I've been trying to grow in it.

The carrots have proved to be a larger pain to grow that I foresaw. The seeds have been taking a long time to germinate and it seems that wherever I have planted them the weeds have followed. Its been very labor intensive to keep the growing areas weed free, which is important as weeds choke young carrots very easily. The first wave was planted around six weeks ago, so I'm looking at harvesting in the next week or two. 

So all in all,I'm pleased with the progress of the garden and eagerly looking forward to Tomato Season. Talking of which, time to go look at some seeds.