Garden Aerial

I've had requests for complete views of my garden so here are a few from the second-story windows. This bed is on the north side of the house and now is mostly obscured by two Roma tomato plants. At the far left of the picture you can make out the spreading sweet potato vines. In June I tried planting beets and carrots on the shady side of the tomato plants without much success.

You can hardly make out the paths between the vegetable beds this time of year. The far left is the northernmost point in the garden where we've been harvesting Romanette beans. I just planted another crop plus black-eyed peas and pole limas. One bed in from that are Mortgage Lifter and Green Zebra tomatoes (lots of fungus damage there) and our eggplant, jalapeno and basil. The middle bed is okra (very productive right now) and rhubarb (hating the heat). On the far right we have Cherokee Purple and Dr. Carolyn tomatoes. Dr. Carolyn is a profuse and flavorful heirloom yellow cherry tomato.

Here you get to see our famous cucumber plants. We're still getting nightly visits from the cucumber fairy, but production is finally slowing. In front of the cucumbers are our Italian zucchini and at the far end Tuscan kale. I have a hard time killing any plant, so I dug extra holes this year for the leftover tomato plants. And on the far right is our herb garden: rosemary, sage, thyme, lavender, sorrel and one rhubarb.

Here are the first beds we planted four years ago and still going strong, although I am detecting some want for nutrients. We're already into a second crop rotation with the cranberry beans (upper left) all harvested since I took this photo. The kohlrabi is ready to be eaten, as is the Swiss chard, the beats, the turnips on the far right. The carrots are still a bit on the small side, leading me to think we need to add a big dose of compost here. In the lower part of the picture are oregano and marjoram on the left, then potatoes (half harvested) and parsnips in the lower right-hand corner. They seem to be happiest of all with just one weeding.

Finally, seed flats with our seedling for fall: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, collards, Bibb lettuce, Romaine, etc.

It's been a good year. We've only watered three times all season.