I'm getting blossoms....

This is the view of my 9 raised beds yesterday with the strawberry row, Quinault and Sequoias, in front. The white circles in front of the fence are a string of solar-powered lights that change colors in the evenings. I'm hoping they might keep some of the critters at bay. My wooden sides are 12" spruce boards cut in 4-foot lengths. My trellises are 7-ft fence posts bought at Home Depot for $5.90 each and pushed a foot into the ground inside 6 of my raised beds. I used sisal twine for the vines and the tomatoes.

My White Cloud Cauliflower is heading up. I only have 2 left. One already came to the table a couple weeks ago. Why it was so early, I'll never know, but it surprised us....and tasted great.

My Boston Pickling Cucumbers had lots of blossoms yesterday. That's a still very young Lemon Cucumber just to its right.

Yesterday I had myself a great big salad. The radishes are White-Tipped, Cherry Belles and the whites are Ping Pongs. The greens are Red Sails and Simpson lettuce leaves. I had to add a store-bought tomato since my toms are just yellow blossoms now.

My Ichiban Eggplant has a nice purple blossom. I guess I'll have at least one of them in the near future.

This first effort into square foot gardening has been a pleasure. No heavy duty weeding. I just pull the newest weeds poking up their heads a little each day. I use mown grass for my mulch. After every mowing I'm out there with a child's the rake getting the swaths that kick out of my son's riding mower.

A nice day to take pictures, overcast....

In front of the sugar and snap peas are 5 Packman Broccoli plants. I have marigolds in the left frt sqs and nasturtiums in the rt frt sqs to repel some bugs. I hope it works. So far so good.

Some of my corn, Sugar Buns, sprouting.

Left is Boston Pickling Cucumber and to its right is a Lemon Cucumber. I also have another pickling and a burpless in this row to the right but not in the picture.

Left is White onions with nasturtiums in frt on the rt, then carrots both Mokum and Napoli, and behind the carrots and onions are sweet peppers. I keep water in the white buckets spaced around my garden so I can water the plants easily and with sun-warmed water (when the sun shines, that is).

With all our rain lately, I don't expect to have to water them for over a week since we're going to have rain showers each and every day to some extent.

Clouds and rain expected for a whole week.....

Orange Bell sweet pepper showing teensy peppers.

Potato patch with all of them hilled now. The Kennebecs are taller in the rear and the Golden Russets are in the front.

This is my potted plant trio near my doorway. Two tomato plants, Yellow Cherry on left and Bonnie Grape on right with a mint plant in the center. I potted the mint plants since they are invasive and the pots will keep them in check.

Tomato plant, German Queen, showing its yellow blossoms.

On left is Zucchini, Black Beauty then radishes down the center and on the rt, front to back: Nasturtiums to repel bugs and in rear to square of Yellow onions.

My raised bed garden today.....

This is my Alpine strawberry patch today. The 3 on the left have red berries, the 3 on the right yellow ones that supposedly taste like pineapple. I'll let you know when all those little white blossoms turn into lovely, tasty berries. I can hardly wait. Alpines are a perennial and will come back in the same form year after year, tho I'm told that its best to reseed after 3 years for the yield will then drop considerably.

Here's a Peony...

This is a red Peony bush, Karl Rosenfeld, coming into full bloom now.

A closeup of two of the blossoms....

A close view of a group of them.

I love Peonies, and their only problem is they don't last too long in the season. I have to enjoy every moment while they are here. I have another one that blooms a little later, a pink one, and one peony tree I transplanted from a too shady spot last fall which won't show blooms this year.

Want to see my crops today?

These are my 3 Brussel Sprouts, Bubbles variety.

Here's the 7 Broccoli plants, Packmans in front of the peas.

I have 6 large Cabbage, Early Jersey Wakefield with some smaller red cabbage, Super Red minis, to their right.

This is another cantaloupe, Ambrosia variety, under its warming vinyl-covered cage which I made from chicken wire, bamboo stakes and clear vinyl to cover them and keep them warm.

I wasn't able to get the trellis I wanted for the larger plants, cantaloupes and watermelons, so they are growing in the last squares along the back of the garden so I can trail their vines into and across the little corn field.

The watermelon is a small variety known as Sugar Baby so I'm thinking this will work for me.

More of my raised beds today....

Under its clear vinyl cage is cantaloupe, Hale's Best Jumbo with a Black Beauty zucchini to the right.

I've planted two types of carrots, Mokum and Napoli. They are just starting to show their feathery greens.

At last, the corn, Sugar Buns, which is in its own raised little field without lumber. I hope to see a few more shoots soon. I've been putting in seed every 10-14 days in the small bed.

One of my cucumbers, Boston Pickling with a sweet pepper Green Bell, to its right.

This is an eggplant, Ichiban. I have a couple that I haven't planted yet since they are being hardened off and are ones I started from seeds myself.

Today's raised bed pictures....

The herb bed has basil, sage, tarragon, parsley, dill, sage, rosemary and even a couple of tomotoes along the back row.

Here I have an all lettuce mix and iceberg type lettuces under its netting and chicken wire cage for shading.

My white onions are in these two squares.

Along the back is pole beans on the left and snow peas on the right with bush beans in the front of them.

The left half along the back row are sugar peas and the right half are snap peas with Packman variety Broccoli in front of the peas.

today's pictures continue....

In front are two hot peppers, Habanero and Serrano with tomatoes growing behind them.

This is a sweet pepper, Orange Bell.

My potatoe patch has raised beds without lumber. The larger plants in the back are Kennebecs with shorter Golden Russets in front. They were all planted on the same day but Kennebecs grow faster.

My Alpine strawberries in front of the annul flowers, another raised bed without lumber. I have 3 yellow that are supposed to taste like pineapple and 3 red ones here. They are perennials.

My strawberry bed, raised again without lumber, of standard berries, Quinault which are everbearors and Sequoia which are June bearors. I've been getting some from the ererbearors about every day lately.

my garden pictures today continue....

There's a little tomatoe starting on this Sweet 100 Tomato plant.

My 2 Sweet 100 Tomatoes are on the right. To their left is a Roma tomato.

More tomatoes....Mountain Pride, my only determinate and Husky Cherry Red to its right.

Under my clearn vinyl-covered cages I have a couple of Sugar Baby (small size) Watermelons started.

This is one of my 2 zucchini, Black Beauty.

And in the Raised Beds...

Its been raining for two days now and its awfully wet out there. I did harvest some spinach, radishes, red and Romaine lettuces and some strawberries today after the rain stopped early this evening. I'm enjoying my Square Foot Gardening immensely.
I hope for some sunshine the next couple of days so I can harden off some Ace peppers, cantaloupe and eggplants I started some weeks ago. Its the first time I've done this and they are looking healthy. I know cantaloupe can be very touchy to transplant but I have seeds if this effort fails.
Wish me luck!

Here are my Clematis vines...

I only have two Clematis vines, this one is Multi-Blue and its my early one. Its in full flower right now.

This is the other, Carnaby, which blooms a little later. Its just started during all this rain we've been having the last couple of days. Its nice to see it another year.

The Orchids I got at the library Plant Sale today...

Woodsprite Orchids, a well-known orchid grower a few towns over, donated a few of their lovely orchids to the plant sale. I got there very early and was glad I did. I bought these two lovelies for only ten dollars each, a real bargain when you consider the price they sell at the nursery. And the colors are divine. The top one is a rich, bright pink. The lower one is a minty green yellow that is lovely. Both are Phalaenopsis which are the easiest to grow in one's home. I love how the blossoms last for months at a time.

Do You Like Irises?

This one just opened today and the deep purple gives it its terrific name....His Royal Highness. He certainly looks royal to me.

Progress in my garden as of today....

Six Broccoli plants in center and both sugar and snap peas on twine.

This is the zucchini Black Beauty under black paper mulch with cantaloupe plants under clear plastic cages and tomatoes to their right. A small cabbage plant is in the right corner with the zucchini.

In the center raised bed are 6 Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbages with tomatoes on the twine to their left.

A view from the front with cabbages in front box and 3 cauliflower in the next box.

Three Brussel sprouts in the front with lettuces under the shade cages with peas on the twine behind them. You can't see the pole beans that are directly behind the netted cages.

To deter insects I have marigolds planted in the left front square of each raised bed and nasturtium seeds in all the front right squares. In some case the nasturtiums share the square with a veggie, but rarely.

I have 17 tomato plants, most in the raised beds but a couple in pots in my rose garden. Only 4 pairs are the same variety. I hope to have enuf to contribute to our local town Food Pantry after harvest.

I'm loving this square foot garden method so far.

Have harvested cauliflower, spinach, two kinds of lettuces, and a few strawberries. All tasted superb and so much better than the store-bought since they were all so fresh from the garden.