late june garden

My brother has been sending photos of his beautiful vegetable garden in Wisconsin. Cool temperatures and a late planting have meant a slow start to my garden, so I've been less than eager to reciprocate with photos. But here at the end of June, the plants are putting on some weight and I'm not embarrassed to share.

This is my main vegetable garden area. The entire form, from materials to size to layout, has evolved in the 12 years we've lived here. Unfortunately the trees in the yard have grown so this site isn't as sunny as it used to be. As a tree hugger, however, I am stuck with the spruce and birch. So this year I looked for some other places to plant veggies on our lot.

I usually have potted herbs by the back door. I included a gorgeous red lettuce in the wine barrel this year.

In addition to the two wine barrels that I've had for years on the deck, this year I set up 6 plastic pots of similar size. They were free at the annual pot recycling event that the botanical garden hosts. The pots are planted with veggies and edible flowers. A tripod in each will hopefully support scarlet runner beans, canary bird vine, sweet peas, or nasturtium. I've also got tomatoes and basil in pots with wall-o-waters around them.

The southside of our house has a long narrow bed that hasn't had much more than daffodils and tulips. Last year I was inspired by the poor returns in my vegetable garden and the edible designs at the Alaska Botanical Garden to add vegetables and flowers to fill in after the bulbs end in early June. I've added sunflowers, shiso, amaranth, broccoli, parsley, chinese cabbage, borage, calendula, and assorted other edible plants.

Two years ago we had to replace our septic tank, which was located near the back of the house under my largest perennial bed. They dug up two large boulders which became part of the landscaping. We saw a dry creek bed on the garden tour that year and Paul created one for us. I had dug up over 200 plants and almost all made the transition to the new bed and seem more lush with the additional topsoil and compost. Paul's torii gate Balance is in the upper left at our back patio.