URBAN GROWTH CONTINUES

There is always something growing in the garden. Now that summer is finally here (I think), the greenery has really taken off. The strawbale bed is a perfect home to the tomatoes. I've watered only once or twice. The nasturtiums are suitable companions. And the basil that was struggling in the pots on the deck has sprung back to life in the strawbale bed. Now, will the plants set enough fruit and will that fruit have a chance to ripen is another story. But the strawbale is making the plants big and lush and green. In this shot you can see tomatoes, nasturtiums and some basil in the foreground.
Along the side of the house some of the beans finally took hold and are climbing up the wooden trellis. What a bad start for the beans. Sowed them at least three times in some spots. Even planted starts I began in the house. Damn snails and slugs got fat on all of it. The kale in the foreground of this shot won't stop growing. We keep cutting from these two plants and it keeps coming back. One more cutting and then we will move on to the other, younger kale plants and put something new in the old kale spots. And you can spot tons of lettucestoward the end of this bed. We are still trying to eat it all. Yes, that is straw in my wheelbarrow! J went out to run errands once day. I yelled that she was obligated to bring me a treat. She returned with two bales of straw! The perfect gift. I've been mulching like a crazy woman. I also turned the compost pile and layered the contents with straw strata, as it were. The green cone veggie composter is happier too now that it has also been layered with straw.

The nasturtiums grow like crazy and need little attention.
They are doing the job of distracting the aphids from the tomatoes and they look very pretty.













In this view from the deck you can see peas, carrots, kale, chard and green onions growing in the green bed. In the yellow bed we have two kinds of onions, carrots, beets, shallots, several types of greens and I've recently added more of those struggling basil seedlings. Along the fence running in the background we have more peas, kales, endive, chard, onions, cilantro, rosemary, chives, sage, sunflowers and parsely, to name a few.