Raised Bed Update

If you're a regular reader, you'll probably remember that I recently blogged about installing a wonderful arrangement of raised beds when my parents visited.  Also while they visited, we planted seeds!  I thought I should give an update on the progress of the raised bed garden, because it is threatening world takeover at any moment.  I think that the hot weather and humidity that Iowa has experienced lately, along with the copious quantity of rain, is something a little vegetable seed dreams of experiencing when it grows up.  Now, those vegetable seed dreams are coming true...here you can see in the front bed the large and possibly rampant zucchini plants, which are scarcely 2 weeks old.  Behind them, some beets.  In the rear bed are some more beets and bush beans at the very back.

Here is a bed with 4 rows of carrots (and some crabgrass that needs to be removed).  Carrots are slow growers so this is actually quite good growth for 2 weeks.

This bed is (from left to right) 2 rows of radishes, a row of tomato transplants, and "lambkin" melons.

Here a row of sweet pepper transplants are coming along.  The fence is leaning down over the side of this bed temporarily.  Under the fence is a row of arugula (seems to be a bit slow in comparison to other things but it might not like the heat), and then some Asiatic lilies towards the back.  I want to know their colour before I choose their place in the garden.

Then I have this bed with (L to R) tomato transplants, pac choi, and Brussels sprouts.  A little weeding needed here too.

Now, this show of strength is amaranth in the back (for the chickens) and mustard greens in the front.  Incredible for 2 weeks if you ask me...

The tomato transplants included some 1-gallon larger plants.  One of those plants already has my first ripening tomato on it!  Oh the excitement!!

Not to be outdone, clearly somebody administered steroids to my Echinacea plants.  Well, maybe it was the magic llama beans!  For perspective, the clematis on the trellis is over 6 feet tall.  There are some Joe-Pye Weed plants in the back, with the classic Echinacea in the front.

Here's a close up of the "Coconut Lime" Echinacea that has become one of my favourites.  I love its cool colour and bushy blooms.  Avant-garde clematis is in the background.

And finally, here are a couple of recent daylily blooms from a group of plants I purchased last year.  They came from a hybridizer who was selling off some unnamed test crosses.  I'm quite pleased with these.  Lucky Nickel ate a lot of the buds on the others so I still don't know how they will all look, but these escaped the hungry goatling!

So overall, despite having been late in the season on planting my veggie garden, I think it's looking grand, and I do hope I'll have some good harvests as the season progresses.