Build Sew Reap: Late July 2013 Garden Show and Tell

It has been a long time since I did a garden update (in fact, I was still calling it the side yard) and boy have things grown! I've been busy chipping away at little projects here and there but still haven't gotten around to finishing the paint on the wood shed or the chicken coop. My goal is to do that sometime in the next few weeks though.

So, here's where things were with the last update:

And to zoom in a bit, look at how cute my little plants were:

OK, are you ready for this because I totally wasn't. When I walk out to my garden, particularly in the evening when all is quiet and the sun is low in the sky, I'm overcome with thankfulness for what we've built out there. It has become everything I envisioned and so so so much more. So, here it is:

Here's a list of what can be found in the area covered by the photographs above:

Snap Peas (20)
Striped Roman tomatoes (8)
Northern Delight tomatoes (2)
Green Stripey Heirloom Tomato (1)
Potato Leaf Heirloom Tomato (1)
Bell Pepper (4)
Jalapeno Pepper (1)
Corn (21)
Trail of Tears beans (60)
Bunching Onions (2 square feet)
Kale (10
Chives (1 square foot)
Little Fingers Carrots (2
Mixed Lettuce (6 square feet)
Coriander (4)
Basil (4)
Rainbow carrots (2
Radishes (2
Sunflowers (9)
Sturon Onions (12 square feet - approximately 120 plants)
Artichokes (3)
Cauliflower (1)
Strawberries (80)
Little Finger Eggplants (1)
Roma (1)
Rainbow Cherry Tomatoes (2)
Anaheim Peppers (1)

Of that, we've harvested lots of lettuce and snap peas plus a few of the Northern Delight tomatoes. Everything else is growing big and strong but out here in the PNW, our harvests come a little later than, say, the Midwest.

Our lot borders on several other lots but the wonderful family who lives behind us used to look over and see the back of our carport and weeds as tall as their youngest child. It was awful, I can't imagine having to look at that thing. I snuck into their yard tonight to take a picture of what they look at now and it makes me so happy:

Anyway, that's just the main garden.

Here's what the pumpkin patch looked like back on June 1:

And here it is now:

I owe you a post on how the fence got so much cuter for nearly free. I'm trying to get caught up but all these changes take lots of work and most of it happens after the kiddos go to bed until it gets dark and then I'm too beat to blog.

Here is a picture of our biggest pumpkin:

I'd say it is already almost the size of a soccer ball. We have at last 8 pumpkins hiding in there under the leaves. I have a layer of breathable weed blocker down under the plants that I put there originally to keep their roots warm. Now I leave it to block weeds and to keep the pumpkins on a dry surface. I recently set up a PVC pipe irrigation system so each plant is carefully watered at the roots without me having to wade in among the thorny leaves that I'm apparently allergic to.

Within the pumpkin patch, I planted the following:

Zucchini (6)
Cinderella Pumpkins (3)
Howden Pumpkins (3)
Sugar Pie Pumpkins (3)
Pickling Cucumbers (4)

Here's a much smaller pumpkin on a plant I couldn't bear to just let die so I stuck it in the ground between the apple trees. It hasn't grown as vigorously as the main plants but it seems to be doing OK enough to grow a pumpkin:

Tonight I had the pleasure of heading out into the garden with my trusty harvest basket to collect the makings of a wonderful salad that the entire family eagerly devoured.