This year's raised bed garden

The gardens April 16, 2017.  Everyone thought we'd have another frost, as often we wait till after Mother's Day to plant.  I went ahead and put my seedlings in the raised bed at the Carver Center in Black Mountain.

 I enjoyed having fresh basil to season some foods with!

And I'd never put cilantro into an omelette before, but it was just right!

 My bed the first week...

Some other gardeners had some beautiful petunias and pansies growing.

 Lettuce was partitioned off in one gardener's plot

Early days for the garden, I sowed some beans and sun flowers also.

And here is a garden which I've put little effort into on May 30, 2017.  I've taken the cilantro home in a pot so I can snip some whenever I'm cooking.

In the background my friends (who I've never seen) have some great looking tomato plants. Everyone gardens at their own schedule. Just look at those sunflowers I've got now!  Some will be giants and some will be the red variety, I hope.

June 7, 2017

And part of what I love is having fresh flowers in the house...so some marigolds grace my table in a tea bowl which has a flaw so can't be sold...doesn't mean it won't work for me though!

I am planning to pot the coleus back up, and bring it home.  It doesn't seem happy in the full sun, and I've seen some of them do well, but this one probably wants some shade.

Raised bed garden is great for seniors!

I've got a different raised bed garden over at the Carver Recreation Center this year...and have already planted a lot of things! (Isn't it nice to see the new bushes that are planted along the border between garden and play area.)  The weeds in foreground bed will be going soon as my friend Cathy starts her garden.

Today's quote:

No story can contain you.

Ivan M. Grainger

One huge bloom, many green tomatoes

A determined sunflower survives.

I picked a half handful of beans, a huge handful of basil, and a half dozen tomatoes with questionable bottoms.  Are there worms in those holes? I will go exploring before I plan to make fried green tomatoes.

Quote for today:

Never be so focused on what you're looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find.  Ann Patchett

To survive or not...

Last year I had a huge sunflower plant, which gave this wonderful bloom.

I saved some of the seeds when the flower head began to mildew.  Who knew if they would ever be any good.

A friend bought this lovely orange sunflower at the Tailgate Market last weekend. 

This year I was thrilled to have a raised bed to garden in, and planted just 6 of the giant sunflower seeds.  I pruned them down to three plants last week.  But on Saturday I was dismayed to see that 2 of the surviving ones were almost dead...all the leaves crumbled and brown.

This is the healthiest sunflower left.

I don't know if it will survive to bloom.  I bent down the one that was almost completely dead.  We shall see...

With frequent rains, I haven't been going over to water the raised garden.  I've got a LOT of tomatoes starting.  No beans however.  Oh well.  

I have more seeds both of beans and the giant sunflowers.  Wish I knew what was killing them.

Today's Quote:

For me, a lovely day is any day I wake up.

Bernie S. Siegel