Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 6/8/15

Happy Monday, everyone. Remember last week, when I told you that we hadn’t had rain in a couple of weeks? Well, we more than made up for it the middle of this week. My garden got almost five inches of rain in three days! All is well with the garden – except my little lemon drop pepper seedling, which has disappeared. (I think it got washed away!) Now, the humidity has come with a vengeance. We had 92% humidity yesterday (at 7:00 a.m.!), and I couldn’t even work in the garden. So, guess where I am today, making up for it, heat and humidity or not? You got it. Meanwhile, here’s the latest from my Sanctuary Garden.

How My Garden Grows in June ~ Part 2

Yesterday, I shared with you pictures of half my garden this month, compared to pictures last month. Everything has grown so much! If you missed yesterday’s post, you can see Part 1 here. Today, I’ll share with you the rest of my garden with links to last month’s pictures, so you can see the change.

How My Garden Grows in May ~ Part 2

Yesterday, I shared pictures of half my garden beds and how they’re growing. If you missed the first half of my pictures, you can view Part 1. Now, for pictures of the second half of my garden.

Sanctuary Spotlight: How to Grow Raspberries

If you’re a berry lover like I am, I’m sure you’ve had many times of frustration in the grocery store when you’ve seen the prices of raspberries. When I started my garden, I decided that I was going to grow my own raspberries so that I’d have an annual supply of my favorite berry without all the cost. You’d be surprised just how easy it is to grow raspberries in your back yard.

Garden Bounty ~ 7/9/13

Even though we’ve been inundated with rain the past couple of weeks, I’m harvesting oodles of tomatoes and peppers, cucumbers and raspberries. I had so many peppers of different kinds and colors, I made a pepper centerpiece out of them for the picture above.

Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 7/1/13

Well, June is over – and I completed the 2013 Blogathon, posting every day for 30 days! I didn’t think I was going to make it – with work and garden and putting up harvests – but I did it. Again, thanks to all of you for coming with me on the journey. A lot happened at the homestead this week. Storms were a major part of this week – and more are coming over the next couple of days. I’ve been trying to re-apply fungicide to my tomatoes, but the rain is preventing me – all the while, increasing the spread of the spores. sigh On the bright side, we realized this week that the baby bluebirds in my birdhouse have hatched. My “Garden Wilson” told me he saw one of the babies stick his head out of the house to receive a worm from Mama this morning. As soon as one of us can get a picture, I’ll post it! And more good news: we have another family in the yard.  

Garden Bounty ~ 6/23/13

It’s been an incredible week for harvesting in my Sanctuary Garden! Despite two rain storms that brought a total of 3.3″ of rain, I was able to get out and reap baskets of goodies every day but one (the extremely rainy day). I had so much, I thought it’d be fun to share with you the tallies for the week as well as the pictures.

Garden Bounty ~ 6/16/13

This has been a great week of harvesting here in my Sanctuary Garden! I was almost overwhelmed with lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, and snap beans. We’re eating lots of salads, and I pickled beans and cucumbers. Yesterday, I made almost a dozen stuffed peppers. And more are coming. I picked my first cherry tomato yesterday, and a few Mortgage Lifter, blue and Roma tomatoes are almost ready! This is my favorite part of gardening.

Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 6/3/13

It’s been a crazy week at Sanctuary Garden! I harvested all of my white onions and watermelon radishes, the rest of my fingerling potatoes, bowls of lettuce and kale, and the first of my green beans, wax beans, cubanelle peppers, green bell peppers, and pepperoncini. That’s the joyous side of gardening. Unfortunately, I also had to go to war against Septoria Leaf Spot on my tomatoes and several insects (leaf-footed bug and adult squash borer, then found a couple stink bugs) to prevent an invasion. But my garden is growing, flowering (like the male pumpkin flower shown above – complete with ants fertilizing it), and fruiting…and that makes it all worth it.

Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 5/20/13

It’s been a wonderful week here at my Sanctuary Garden. The weather hasn’t been too hot – in the upper 70s to lower 80s most of the week. The sky has threatened rain several times, but never kept its forecasted promise. So, I’ve had to break out the hose and water. At least the clouds have kept it cooler. The garden is filling in and looking lush! Things are growing, fruit is popping, and flowers are blossoming (like my hydrangeas pictured above).