Garden Journal (April, 2018) - Showcasing Garden Photos

I was lucky enough to come across the #gardenjournal2018 put together by @simplymike yesterday. What a perfect idea! I love seeing other people's gardens. I get to see the different ways gardeners trellis up their cucumbers, as well as a variety of techniques people use to train their trees. The overall conceptual ingenuity of how others have shaped a minuscule portion of the Earth into a flourishing area to grow food has become an addiction. Seeing how others have designed their gardens has now become synonymous with a trip to an art museum, which is something I have loved from childhood.

I cannot stop taking photos of my garden. I actually take both my Canon camera and my cell phone with me to the garden everyday. Like a mother, seeing all the growth and progress just makes me happy.

Photo taken April 6th, 2018

Photo taken April 6th, 2018

Photo taken April 6th, 2018

What's happening in the garden right now

I am in southeastern Oklahoma (zone 7b). The last frost date in our area is April 15th, so my garden is in early stage of production right now. I planted 21 tomato plants and 30 sweet pepper plants right after the last frost date. They are still establishing their roots in the garden beds. The new growth are nice and green, looking very healthy.

Trying something new with the bell peppers this year. We have an area that has been used for decomposing wood, leaves, and green leftovers. Using three foot lengths of rebar, we easily turned the area into a bed of peppers with great support. As the peppers grow, we will connect the rebar pieces with bamboo. This will give the heavy pepper branches something to rest on.

Potatoes are growing nicely this year. There has been no infestation or issues with insects. They are currently blooming with pretty purple flowers. It shouldn't be too much longer before the heat starts to bother them. Sugar snap peas have produced enough for consumption. Will be picking our first ones tomorrow. Garlic are showing their scapes. Waiting for the leaves to show me signs it's time to harvest. Four to six weeks is what I am expecting. Lettuce has been abundant since early March. I always love the colors gourmet lettuces add to the garden in early Spring. 16 blueberry bushes, ranging from five years to less than one are showing pea-sized berries. Pollinators showed up on time and completed their tasks. Cucumbers & zucchinis were planted this week. A couple of them have already peaked out of the ground to say hi. Sunflowers should be knee-high in a week or so. If you are starting a garden, sunflowers are highly recommended.

The baby peaches on the three year old peach trees have been thinned. It took me several attempts to thin the fruit to the point where I knew it should be (maybe still not enough. We will see). It is my first year to substantially thin all fruit trees and it is much more psychologically challenging than I thought it would be. But, I know it has to be done. Quality over quantity.....quality over quantity...quality over quantity. Plum tree has had it rough over the past few years, as it was our first fruit tree to plant. And with firsts come issues. But, it is alive and showing more plums than ever.

20 comfrey plants from six to two years of age have been nothing but prosperous to our garden. It appears Bumble Bees have a special place in their heart for the comfrey blossom. This year we will be using some of the comfrey to try our hand at some freshly brewed, stinky as anything has stank before, comfrey tea. Can't wait.

We lost a decent amount of our late spring figs from a few freezing early mornings in mid April. Not a problem though. Our fig trees have been the easiest of any tree we have planted to grow, and are flourishing.

Home Orchard

Our orchards are planted with the permaculture method. Fruit trees are companion planted with comfrey, yarrow, rosemary, lemon balm, oregano, thyme, sage. We have also added some nitrogen fixers this year, such as wax myrtle and sea buckthorn. We expanded our garden this year and added another small orchard. We will be experimenting with new techniques with fruit trees in the new orchard area.

Photo taken on April 29th, 2018

Photo taken on April 29th, 2018

Love the orchard part of the garden. It feels very soothing to spend time in there, almost like being in a park. Mimicking nature with the permaculture design. This part of the garden is densely planted.

More Pictures of Our Garden in April, 2018

Since photos are the most important in this contest, and I never miss an opportunity to share my garden photos, here comes more photos.

Photo copyright: @thelaundrylady