Happy Solstice!

The Solstice is here. Summer is officially ON! And the garden is officially planted. All of it.

• Box 1: Tomatoes - 3 varieties
• Box 2: Peppers - sweet and spicy varieties
• Box 3: Radishes, Carrots, Beets
• Box 4: Lettuces - 3 varieties, Spinach; 3 Sunflowers at the corners. 
• Box 5: Squashes and Pumpkins - 16 plants total - and a net lattice for them to grow up on. 
• Box 6: Onions - Red, Yellow, White, Green
• Box 7: Snap Peas and Garden Beans
• Box 8: Wax Beans and Sweet Corn
• Garlic Bed with 80 plants
• Herb Bed with perennial herbs

Now all we need to do is water, weed, and wait. Oh - and fill in the paths with rocks scavenged from our walks. I have the bucket in the stroller basket and we are all ready to hit the trail in the morning for a load. 

I also have a long bed along the fence that I will prep and fill in hopes that we can afford raspberry bushes next year! But this can happen in bits and pieces whenever I get a few minutes. At present it is filled with all of the river rock that I had bordering the vegetable garden last year and a pile of sod and weeds from cleaning out the garden a few weeks ago. The sod and weeds just need to go out back behind the fence to help choke out the weeds that grow back there. The rocks will have a home in my flower and shrub gardens as 'features.' 

Flower/shrub gardens: All weeded, refilled with cedar mulch, and a few plants added. The irises I planted last fall have come up nicely. All of the perennials have come back in full force: firegrass; yarrow; echinacea, seedums. I added some columbines to the front garden to help hide the unsightly power boxes. The burberry bushes are looking a bit sad, but I've noticed that all round town as well. I will give them another month, but they may need to be replaced. The low juniper is doing great. 

Baby Trees: Are budding! They look quite happy and I am more than pleased with the fact that they are budding and flowering. 

Potted: Added some color out front with a few multicolor potted plants. Also filled the big pot out back with a few annuals and the pot on the bench got a nice new annual as well. Loving all of the green and growth we are getting. Everyone is looking very happy so far! 

Compost: This is our third summer in this house and I have yet to start a compost pile. I would really love to do worm composting indoors, but we don't have a suitable place to put that kind of setup. I have been eyeballing one of those rolling composters from Envirocycle. But they are over $100 and I'm not sure I want to spend that much to get started. I may just get a few GeoBins from the local Garden Center and go with the more labor intensive, slower composting, yet infinitely cheaper route. Anyone who has experience with either of these methods, give me a shout. I am also open to building something, as long as it's not complex and expensive! 

Still have to upload photos of everything. I will update when that happens!