Lots of photos ahead!
All the summer flowers are in full-bloom around here, and the vegetable gardens are beginning to produce abundantly. I'll take you on a short tour around our yard and gardens, which are now at the zenith of their growth (maybe even past peak). We've had a rainy season followed by hot weather, and it takes much attention to keep the jungle under control!
We'll start the tour near the house, where these shasta daisies bloom by the driveway.
Mom is the flower gardener here, and she creates many potted displays using unique vessels, such as this galvanized washtub full of begonias:
A hydrangea bush we transplanted from Granny's old house and a daylily plant grow in the flower bed near the daisies.
Another pot of begonias is perched on an old red wooden bench (yard-sale find) near the sidewalk, a red-twig dogwood and hosta anchoring the corner..
As you make your way down our front sidewalk, you'll notice the multitude of flower pots and watering cans lining the steps. There's even a red mailbox containing more flowers - can you spot it?
We take a look down the narrow front yard towards the area where our two enclosed gardens are located.
Turning back to view the house from the first garden's edge, you can see the white fence that lines our property and the purple-martin birdhotel.
Cheerful yellow yarrow grows perennially at the outer perimeter of this picket fence garden.
Peeking over the fence into the garden, you see a burst of greenery in the 4 raised beds:
New this year is a comfrey plant with its fuzzy broad leaves, growing adjacent to the cucumber vines and marigolds.
Another new crop is tomatillo, or Mexican husk tomato, passed along by friends. I always like to try new plants, and now I have to come up with what to make with the harvest.
The cucumber vines are covering their allotted spot and more:
A zucchini is just about ready to be picked before getting too big! I'm also growing 2 types of yellow squash.
Here is the bed of green bush beans, with Greek oregano thriving nearby and spring greens going to seed in the background.
Several okra plants getting ready to bloom in this photo (taken a week ago) have since produced some pods:
Below are some sugar snap peas and beets.
I'm growing a few types of bell peppers, as well as some jalapenos.
Just dug and curing is this garlic, which I sowed back in October. It is very easy to grow and always used in cooking.
Rainbow Swiss chard is still nestled among the other spring greens, which have already bolted.
A red mailbox stores garden tools and is mounted on the garden post:
Purple coneflowers are prolific along the borders of our gardens.
We'll begin heading toward the larger garden, but I pause to look back at the picket fence garden through a blooming fennel plant.
This flowering purple bush is a vitex or chaste berry tree:
More coneflowers surround the garden shed in our lower field.
This is the shed where Granny will sometimes make her baskets as she watches us work in the garden.
Hollyhock is a bee's delight:
The hollyhock stalks reach toward the sky, and the airy Russian sage spikes are not far behind.
This butterfly bush gives off a distinctive scent as I pass by.
A clematis bloom accents the garden gate.
We have 4 strawberry beds, which contain ever-bearing varieties of strawberries. On the outside of the garden fence (nevermind the weeds) is a Rose of Sharon bush.
Below are pink-eyed purple hull peas in the foreground and tomatoes in the background.
Marigolds are scattered throughout the plantings; here it peeks out from the black-eyed peas, which are now getting close to being ready for harvest. Peas are one of Mom's favorite garden veggies and she loves when we cook them for lunch.
The tomatoes this year are only just beginning to ripen.
This is our flourishing rhubarb plant that came back strong after I cut back its flower stalks. In the background are some of our blackberry vines.
We also have a few raspberry canes. This year it was our 4 blueberry bushes that produced the most fruit.
Returning back towards our house, we find the blooms of a lavender tree, a new variety Mom added this year:
Sweet Potato vine, verbena, and heliopsis (oxeye sunflower) make their home under the windows of this storage shed.
And finally, this silver wagon is just the right place for more begonias, and it rests on a rock alongside our driveway.
Hope you've enjoyed this glimpse at what's growing now on the Mountain Musings property!
~Hannah
OH MY, BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS, COLOURS, CONGRATULATIONS GIROTTI FAMILY . HERMOSO REALMENTE SUS PLANTAS, COMO ALEGRAN Y DECORAN SU HOGAR QUERIDA DEB, SE VE QUE HAN TENIDO UN ARDUO TRABAJO PARA ESTA IMPRESIONANTE EXPLOSION DE VARIEDADES, AROMAS Y PERFUMES.QUIERO FELICITAR A SU SEÑORA MADRE POR SU CUMPLEAÑOS, QUE DIOS LA BENDIGA RICAMENTE POR MUCHOS MAS.QUERIDA DEB GRACIAS POR COMPARTIR COMO SIEMPRE, ¿HA VISTO LA TRANSMISION DE LA BODA NEELY STADDON? YO SI PUDE VERLA, ME ENCANTO SOBRE TODO PORQUE SE HA VISTO LA LUZ DE CRISTO EN TODO MOMENTO. ME GUSTARIA COMPARTIR UN VERSICULO CON USTED: FILIPENSES CAPITULO 4,VERSICULOS 4 AL 7. QUE DIOS LA BENDIGA RICAMENTE.
Translation:
OH MY, BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS, COLORS, CONGRATULATIONS GIROTTI FAMILY.
YOUR PLANTS ARE REALLY BEAUTIFUL, AS THEY BRIGHTEN AND DECORATE YOUR HOME. DEAR DEB, IT CAN BE SEEN THAT THERE HAS BEEN HARD WORK FOR THIS IMPRESSIVE EXPLOSION OF VARIETY, FLAVORS, AND FRAGRANCES. I congratulate your mother for her birthday, God richly bless FOR MANY MORE. DEAR DEB, THANKS FOR SHARING AS ALWAYS. HAVE YOU SEEN THE TRANSMISSION OF the NEELY Staddon WEDDING? IF I COULD SEE IT, I LOVE IT, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE THE LIGHT OF CHRIST HAS BEEN SEEN AT EACH MOMENT. I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE A VERSE WITH YOU: PHILIPPIANS 4:4-7. GOD BLESS YOU RICHLY.
Posted by: ANA | Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 02:04 PM
Wow, such a great garden! This summer I've had to garden vicariously through bloggers. :)
We grew tomatillos the past few years. One thing I made and stocked the freezer with was green enchilada sauce. http://ourbestbites.com/2010/03/green-enchilada-sauce/ I froze it in 3-cup portions, which was perfect for a pan of enchiladas. Last year each time I made it, I doubled the recipe for everything except for the chicken broth. We love green enchiladas, and I also used it in this soup recipe: http://www.scatteredthoughtsofacraftymom.com/2012/12/favorite-slow-cooker-recipes-creamy.html (Usually I made it stove top, rather than in the slow cooker.)
Posted by: Tammy | Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 02:43 PM
You inherited your great-grandfather's green thumb. Unfortunately I didn't. I know how much work goes into having wonderful gardens like that, great job!
Posted by: Toots | Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 08:56 PM
Hannah, what amazing gardens! You've done a great job, both in the gardening itself and in sharing all the bounty via the blog. I enjoyed the tour. God bless the harvest. Mrs. W.
Posted by: Kathy | Thursday, July 28, 2016 at 08:24 AM
Your gardens are gorgeous. You should start giving guided tours (for a fee of course)! :) Your family certainly has the greenest thumbs I've ever known. Hope it gets passed to the next generation.
Posted by: victoria | Thursday, July 28, 2016 at 03:30 PM
I need Deb to come to my house and give me some flower garden ideas! I would love to grow more flowers but I don't have any skill on placement, arranging, etc.... Your gardens are always so beautiful!
Posted by: Joanna | Friday, July 29, 2016 at 09:39 AM
Ana,
Thank you for your compliments!
Tammy,
Those recipes look great! We love Mexican food, so I’ll have to try them. Thanks for sharing! And glad my post could help you enjoy “gardening” in spite of your busy year.
Aunt Toots,
I’m happy I can carry on a family trait. :)
Mrs. White,
Glad you could come along on my tour. I’ve had folks asking about the garden, and especially Granny misses being here to see the harvest, so I wanted to show her what I’ve been up to.
Victoria,
The fee for a tour could be for each person to pull a few weeds as they walk by. ;) I’m thankful for God’s blessings on our efforts.
Joanna,
Mom says she really doesn’t have any skill either, she just plunks her plants wherever! ;)
Posted by: Hannah | Saturday, July 30, 2016 at 02:55 PM
Beautiful!! Lovely!! Inspiring!! God's beauty is so amazing!!Thanks for sharing Hannah!!!!
Posted by: Chris | Saturday, July 30, 2016 at 08:16 PM
Yes, wow wow what lovely gardens and flowers!! You and your mom must have special green thumbs... What a nice tour, thanks for sharing all your pictures Hannah! I loved the mailboxes, both of them. What a neat idea to store garden tools inside for ease of use. All your veggies and tomatoes look so good... They made me hungry! 🙂 We're growing some roma tomatoes this year, just getting a few of them turning red in the garden. So glad you all got plenty of rain for all your plants so far this summer. God bless you, hope everyone is doing well!
Posted by: Danielle | Saturday, July 30, 2016 at 09:52 PM
How in the world do you manage to plant, harvest and weed such a large area? We have a small garden, courtesy of my son, but it's difficult to keep up with it. He does a good job, but weeds still need to be pulled, etc. I think that your mom does the lawn mowing...what kind of mower does one use for a space this big?
Wow, is all I can say! It looks great.
Posted by: Cathy | Monday, August 01, 2016 at 09:08 AM
Thanks, Chris, you're right that God's creation is beautiful!
Danielle,
Thanks for coming along on my tour. :) If ever you are in VA, we’ll take you a personal one!
Cathy,
The garden definitely takes much work, and even then it is hard to keep everything completely under control! We have a riding mower and everything can usually be mowed in about 3 hrs.
Posted by: Hannah | Tuesday, August 02, 2016 at 10:19 PM
Your gardens are so lovely! Ours has struggled this year. I don't know if it's because it's been so hot or the little amount of rain we've gotten. But I will use what I can get and be thankful. :)
Blessings, Kris in NE
Posted by: Kris | Thursday, August 04, 2016 at 05:26 PM
Oh my word!!!!!! Soooooo beautiful!!!!!! Y'all definitely have green thumbs!!!! What a blessing to have such lovely flowers and herbs and produce growing!!!!
Oh! Tomatillos. This is our favorite enchilada sauce- http://ourbestbites.com/2010/03/green-enchilada-sauce/
Since we moved, I still haven't gotten the hang of our yard. I miss our old yard that was sooooo easy to grow everything in.
His
Shari
Posted by: Shari | Saturday, August 06, 2016 at 07:42 AM
Thanks, Kris, for the comment. It seems every year is a bit different in results - maybe next season will be better for you!
Shari, thanks for sending along the enchilada sauce recipe - I’ll have to give it a try! Thanks for the kind words.
Posted by: Hannah | Wednesday, August 10, 2016 at 10:37 PM