not exactly three sisters...

my current favorite garden view:



featuring, edamame (front), tomatoes (middle) and pole beans, dutifully climbing their trellis (not to mention offering yummy green beans).

update

it's mid july, and the garden is thriving. it has been cooler here than expected, but we've had our share of very warm days. we have tomatoes growing on every plant, and have harvested the first few cherry tomatoes. the first one we ceremoniously cut into thirds so we could each have a taste. they are sweet and delicious!

were still eating peas, but they are almost done. the green bean plants are climbing high on their teepee poles, and a few small beans can be found hiding under the leaves.

the carrots look great above ground. no idea what's going on underneath. the beets look less healthy, and our kale is rather pathetic. i suspect a combination of poor soil, and lack of sun. the plot is not technically in full sun. luckily, the bed with the tomatoes seems to get enough. we've enjoyed a steady harvest of lettuce, though i imagine it will be bolting soon. we've been cooking with all the herbs we're growing, and i even got another thyme plant from the farmer's market, because the little one i had just couldn't keep up with the demand from our kitchen.

peas and carrots
the edamame is growing taller and seems to be healthy and happy. japanese beetles have been visiting the bed, but so far, they haven't done too much damage. i've been hand picking them off as i spot them.


we've had a constant bloom of flowers all around the yard, including a stunning (and very tall) breadseed poppy i received from the neighborhood plant exchange.


right now we have day lillies, echinacea (purple coneflower), cosmos, zinnias, marigolds, nasturtiums, chamomile and the brown-eyed susans are about to bloom.


cosmos

cosmos

cosmos

nasturtiums

is it time to start thinking about fall crops? i started more of the purple bunching onions, and have some garlic ordered for october planting. maybe i'll try some kale and chard in a different location. i'd like to make a cold frame, and overwinter a few hardy edibles.

how does YOUR garden grow?

peas please

it's pea season. cosmo has harvested the first few, and shared a couple of the peas with us. he loves them, and gets so excited when another one is ready to be picked. i remember his first peas off the vine last year, in houston, at the mandel community garden.





there is not much in this world that is prettier than a pea plant. those squiggly tendrils, reaching for the sky (or a strand of string), heart-shaped leaves, cupped around the winding vine, delicate, understated blossoms, and that pod! so adorable, with it's little elf cap. pluck, unzip and part the shell, to reveal nature's perfection. an organized row of tender green spheres. pop 'em in your mouth. just like candy.



in other news, the edamame came up about four days after planting! we had torrential rains here the day after i sowed them, and i worried they would wash away. but they were fine. it was clear and sunny the next day, rained the following day, and i guess that was just what they needed. here are shots when they first popped up, and today, with their second set of leaves (already? ahh, they grow up so fast...).





we've got cherry tomatoes setting on the vine, and i have been harvesting the purple bunching onions that i started from seed. we enjoyed some last night, with a medley of roasted vegetables.







it figures that the healthiest, fastest growing plant in the garden is one that planted itself, in the compost. here is one of the pumpkins (or melons, or squash?) taking off in the compost.

the good kind of tired

i just came indoors from over 3 hours of working in the garden. it's been around 90 degrees for the past couple of days. earlier this week i dug up a 6'x7' bed in our backyard. yesterday i turned it, added compost, and turned it some more.



today i took the hoe to it, formed it into 4 rows, and planted edamame. i was inspired last week by the most recent issue of organic gardening. it sounded so easy, and cosmo loves edamame (as does the rest of the family). i quickly ordered seeds and inoculant (from johnnyseeds.com) and planned out the plot (the inoculant is a soybean specific rhizobial bacteria that helps the plants capture and fix atmospheric nitrogen in a form the plants can use. --source: organic gardening, july 2008, p.32). i didn't bother asking the landlord for permission. i was afraid he'd say no. fait accompli, facts-on-the-ground, whatever you wanna call it; the bed has been dug, the seeds have been planted. in about 90 days, we should have fresh edamame. many acres of soybeans are grown in this country, but like the corn, most of it needs to be processed to be eaten. it seems to me that the best way to consume soy, is to eat the fresh beans.



in the process of digging up the yard, i found many treasures, including a small gold chain, a bunch of bottle caps, rusty bent nails, a marble, a bone, rusty swing-set chain, eyeglass lenses... i've been told by several neighbors that a circus used to be located on, or around, the spot where our house is. i was hoping to unearth some circus artifacts, but i'm pretty sure what i found was mostly household debris.