June in Review

June also has had it's set of challenges as well, but I met with a lot of success!

Strawberries Are still doing well, including those I got from in and amongst my new herbs! Though they are a wild-type and therefore skinny and small. They are producing small berries.

Tomatoes I planted these outside near the first of the month and they almost immediately got powdery mildew. I made up a solution of milk and water and have been spraying it on the leaves of everything that will hold still and so far, it's being kept at bay.

Blackberries & Blueberries Our lone blueberry bush has tons of blueberries on it, so we netted it over. I got cuttings from another blackberry bush and am trying to root them. I got a blueberry bush on clearance for $2.49. It was the only one left and I thought it the perfect companion to our lonely one. I planted the new one a couple of feet from the first one on the last day of the month.

Raspberries The two surviving raspberry bushes have berries growing on them! I bought two more for a total of four. How excited I am for next year's crop!

Peas My first pea flower came out! I can't wait to taste my first homegrown peas! The first peas came out as well, but are too small to harvest yet.

Carrots Still growing tall and strong, but we have very rocky soil, so I'm not sure how they'll grow. Good thing it's an experimentation year!

Cucumbers Grew big and are planted on Gramma's side of the yard. We started with five, but there's four left now. They are growing strong.

Squash Were planted the same day as the tomatoes and are loving this sunny weather. Gramma has a few of these on her side of the yard as well.

Herbs I received Oregano, Mint, and Bible Leaf from Rachel's mom. I bought peppermint. They're all in containers and very happy!

Beans I planted Purple Podded Pole Beans and green beans, but I can't remember what variety right now. They are coming up beautifully. Except that an entire row of the Purples decided not to grow, and something is eating the leaves off every Purple that did come up. The green beans are coming along great though.

Lettuce I dug up all the Amish Deer Tongue lettuce and replanted black-seeded Simpson because the ADT was too close together and didn't form heads, just spindly leaves. I spaced the Simpson out much better!

Structures I also got pallets this month. The first batch was mostly rotted and bad, but I didn't know that before I accepted them. So a friend with a truck and I drove 45 minutes to get them. When we got back she said she had a few more for me. Then I called the local hardware store and they told me I could have all the pallets I wanted. I got a different friend with a truck to get those for me. I'm planning on building at least the framework and walls for my chicken coop! I built the compost with four pallets with some of these.

I keep letting myself get disappointed by other bloggers' success. I keep having to remember that they probably have longer growing seasons than I do. After all, I can't count on the last frost until almost the very end of May! I have all winter to refashion my garden plan with all the experience I'm getting this year and so next year will be better. But, most of all, I am having fun.