Comments | gardening: SFG photos

sarea_okelani in gardening

SFG photos

Jul 27, 2010 11:35

I just wanted to share some photos of my small square-foot garden and take the opportunity to also ask for some advice.

If it looks like my garden is way behind, that's because it is. :/ It's only gotten fairly consistently warm in the Seattle area about a week or two ago. It's now in the 80s; before, we were in the 60s. /sad face

( Photos this way. )

zone: usda 8, garden pests: birds, garden update, vegetable: tomato, succulents, garden method: raised beds, trees, garden method: square foot/sfg, fruit: citrus, beginning gardener, vegetable: garlic, vegetable: carrot, vegetable: zucchini

Comments 10

shellazure July 27 2010, 18:50:18 UTC

I have a dwarf Meyer lemon tree and the flowers smell AMAZING. Also, I'm jealous of your strawberries and tomatoes. Mine have yet to give me fruit.

sarea_okelani July 27 2010, 20:03:54 UTC

Ooh well I have that to look forward to re: the flowers!

Ugh, I remember waiting and waiting for ONE tomato to fruit, the disappointment of checking every day, and the day it finally happened how excited I was. It will come for you!!

bailey36 July 27 2010, 18:57:08 UTC

it looks really good, Seattle's climate makes it a later harvest.

sarea_okelani July 27 2010, 20:04:19 UTC

I just hope it doesn't get cold again before it's time to harvest!

mmegaera July 28 2010, 00:41:51 UTC

Nah. You've got till about Halloween before the rainy season switch flips back [g].

We get our warmest weather generally between the middle of July and the end of September (I'm in Puyallup).

bailey36 July 28 2010, 02:44:04 UTC

wow, it's been from 85 to 105 here for weeks, I don't mind because my garden loves it but it's a hot sweaty thing to be in my garden for an hour a day in the am each day.

momomom July 27 2010, 19:36:51 UTC

Those are indeed flowers on the lemon, they smell great when they open.
Your zucchinni is going to get HUGE very soon. There will be fruit.
Garlic is ready to harvest when half the greens have browned or there about.
You can peek at the carrot top by gently brushing away some soil to determine how fat it is. Cover it back up when done.
Chocolate mint makes AMAZING mint simple syrup that I use to make mojitos, and the leaf is very tender so is good to eat in recipes that call for chopped fresh mint like tabbouleh. It also dries well so maybe use it for that Iranian yogurt drink doogh written about here: http://mypersiankitchen.com/doogh/ . The chocolate is in the smell but not the taste in my opinion.

sarea_okelani July 27 2010, 20:05:51 UTC

Thanks for all the tips! I'll definitely have to make that mint syrup -- do you have a basic recipe?

I *think* the garlic is probably ready but I'll wait until week or so to be sure.

plantyhamchuk July 27 2010, 21:22:20 UTC

Don't be too hard on yourself, different areas have different growing conditions. Considering how little heat you guys have had up there I think everything looks great! Down here in Atlanta the plants are big, but it's been ridiculously hot (even for us) and the rain hasn't always kept up. My garden is wilty at times and overgrown because it's too freaking hot to weed/maintain/garden outdoors.

sarea_okelani July 27 2010, 21:54:47 UTC

Thanks for the words of encouragement! I find it hard enough to maintain in the little heat we've had, I can't imagine doing it in the heat waves that the other parts of the country have been going through, ugh.