1. Summer is Almost Over!
2. Tomato Is a MUST in the Garden
3. Zucchini .. and more Zucchini
4. Green Beans (Bush & Trailing)
5. Potato
6. Sunflower
7. Dahlias
8. Echinachea
9. Zinnia
10. Roses
11. Black Eyed Susan
12. Garden Talk Posts:

Summer is Almost Over!

Time flies! It was April when I did my last garden update, and at that time the garden was bare .. no flowers, no plants, no vegetables. I was hoping to do an earlier post to show the Spring and Summer flowers as well as the abundance of Summer produce but life got really busy. I cannot catch-up with all the backlogs I have, but I made sure to keep the photos and videos to share with you soon. Hopefully, sooner than later. For now, let’s see what he have going in the garden. Summer is at its peak, giving us abundance of Summer fresh produce. From the all time favourite tomato, to the prolific Zucchini and beans, fragrant and fresh herbs, and the strong Kale and Swisschard.

Tomato Is a MUST in the Garden

Very rarely that I see garden during the Summer without a tomato growing in it. Somewhere, somehow you will see tomato hiding or right in front of the garden. For me I love planting tomato because they have so many uses and they give so much for the duration of the season.

This is one vegetable that is really worth planting in my garden, regardless if I buy a seedling or start it on my own. This year I did a mix of both just to be sure. I started 3 Cherry Tomato and 3 Beef Steak Tomato, 2 Manitoba Tomato then I bought 3 Roma Tomato & 2 Patio Tomato. Yes, it’s a lot, but as I said earlier, I love tomato 🙂 So there goes the reproof. Here is a short video of me harvesting some of the tomatoes.

Zucchini .. and more Zucchini

Zucchini is one vegetable that will give you so much you will beg for it to stop 🙂 I had so many zucchini t his year and at first, I panicked what to do with them until someone mentioned about freezing grated zucchini. This tip changed how I look at zucchini. I wasn’t scared of it anymore, it fact, I welcome it with open arms. keep it coming, now I know what to do with it.

I have so many plans for it, but the bulk of it will be for soup and stew for the fall and winter. Of course, the sweet stuff like brownies and bread as also in the menu list. How about you? What is your favourite way to use zucchini?

Green Beans (Bush & Trailing)

This year, I build a better looking and more stable trellis in the garden, 2 of them. I was really excited to put them to use and so I did. I used them for sweet pea, beans and cucumber. So far I was happy wit how it holds the climbing vegetables, it really provided a nice support.

I planted both bush and trailing beans this year. I wanted to have a bit more and surely, I got what I wanted. Beans produces so many for the duration of the Summer.

Potato

This year was the first year that I planted potatoes in my garden. I was inspired by the videos that I saw and so I gave it a try.

I used regular organic potatoes from the grocery. I was a bit skeptical of it will work, in the end it did. I guess a proper potato for planting will be better but it was good to know that even store bought regalia potatoes worked.

I enjoyed growing it although it took awhile to harvest it and the 2 large grow bags took a bit of space in my small garden. Plus, they used up a lot of soil to top it up. So will I grow it again next year? Maybe 1 grow bag and different variety to try next time. I had fun harvesting it, that’s the exciting part for me.

Sunflower

Let us showcase Summer flowers, shall we? I love planting flowers as much as I love planting vegetables> I think I have 50% of my garden allocated just for flowers. I planted different flowers that blooms during Spring, Summer and Fall. This way, there is always flowers in the garden until the season end. Sunflower is one Summer flower that I started loving to have in the garden.

I started planting them 2 years ago, but back. then I planted the tall variety. It was not intentional, I was not just paying attention to the packaging and got distracted with the beautiful variety. Since I love cutting flowers to take home, this year I planted more flowers that are suitable for cutting to take home. Last year, a garden neighbour planted a beautiful unique looking sunflower called Teddy Bear. It was unlike any sunflower I’ve seen before. I fell in love with it and when I saw it in the nursery, I immediately grabbed a packet to take home.

Dahlias

Let’s not forget another Summer favorite flower, Dahlias 🙂 This year, only 2 of my Dahlias came back, well it’s better than nothing. I have the white one which bears so many flowers and a pink one that struggles to produce flowers because of the insects eating up the leaves even before they grow. I used to have a lot of Dahlias, and I really love them as cutting flowers. They last long in the base, and they never failed to standout no matter what you about it with. The petals are so pretty I cannot stopped looking at them up close.

Echinachea

These echinacea came back strong and beautiful as always. I had several colors in my garden and as soon the weather starts to warm up, they start coming out one by one. T

The red and pink are the most prolific, while the white, orange and yellow are a bit slow producing flowers as they were not receiving as much sun as the other two.!

Zinnia

This is the first time that I planted a lot of zinnias. I recalled few years ago, I planted few of them but never really get to appreciate them as much. I love how they are easy to grow, and they produce a lot of flowers. They are truly a cut and come type of flowers. The more that I cut them, the more that they produce more flowers.

Although I was hoping to plant more this year, the sunflower took a lot of space and occupied the space I reserved for the Zinnias. I will definitely plant this again next year.

Roses

The last flowering rose I have in my garden so far. It was unexpected as I thought the other more stronger one will be the one to survive. Not complaint at all as I love this dual color roses.

Black Eyed Susan

A new comer in my garden this year is this Black Eyed Susan that I started from seed. This is a very easy to grow flower and easy to start from seed to. I started it a bit earlier (April) but I noticed that they did not really grow as much since May. I guess April was till bit cool. This variety has a a nice velvety brown center and a large dark yellow petals. the contrast of the center to the petals made the flower stands out.

Busing this for cut flower although they only last few days even if submerge in water. Nonetheless, I still wouldn’t hesitate to grow this again this year. Good thing about Black Eyed Susan, it’s perineal! So they will come back year after year! 🙂 see you next year!

I truly wished we could have longer Summer to enjoy the beautiful flowers and abundance of fresh vegetables and fruits, but it is what it is. Every season brings something to love about it. So as we end the Sumner season, I am thankful for all the blessings, the good day, sunny warm days and fun memories under the sun. It’s not a goodbye, it’s a more like see you again next year!

It’s time to get ready to Fall Season 🙂

Garden Talk Posts:

• Why You Should Plant Hyacinths
• How to Plant Paper White With or Without Soil
• How to Store Herbs so They Last Longer
• I Never Knew I Love Snow Peas Until I Started Growing Them Myself
• My Flower Garden Cut Flower Arrangement (2022)
• What is in My Garden (2022)
• Veggies I Have in My Garden (2022)
• Garden Talk (2022): My Flower Garden Cut Flower Arrangements
• Garden Talk 2024: Vibrant Summer Blooms: Lily, Sweet Pea, Dahlia, and More
• Garden Talk (2024): Shatsa Daisy: Planting, Growing & Caring
• Garden Talk (2024): Lily: Plating, Growing & Caring
• [VIDEO] Garden Talk (2024): Sweet Williams: Plating, Growing & Caring
• Garden Talk (2024): Peony: Plating, Growing & Caring

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