June in the Garden

Hello, Everyone! There has been so much going on in my backyard now that the growing season is in full swing. I am not without my battles with garden pests and mysterious spots on some of my fruit but, all in all, I am very happy with how things are turning out!

I'll start with the oregano that I dried. This year is the first year I have dried my herbs. I usually just use them fresh. But since I am on a journey to shop only at farmers markets and not at grocery stores, saving herbs has become a necessity.

There are two ways to dry herbs. One is in the oven and the other way is to let them just hang dry. I have done them both, but this batch I just let hand dry. I'm not sure which method I like better. The oven method is certainly quicker (for those of us that are impatient).  Here are pictures of my oregano:

Oregano is a bit dusty when you are crushing it! And apparently it is like cat nip for cats! My cat Rameses had to check me out, then promptly grabbed a stem of oregano and was chasing it all over the house. Crazy cat. :-)

Now on to what's growin' in that lil' ole backyard farm of mine.  Everything is doing really well!

My new little blueberry bush has been very busy ripening since being transplanted. She seems very happy so far. It's SO tempting to eat those blueberries, but they aren't quite ready just yet. It takes so long for fruit to grow, but disappears so quickly into our tummies!

My apple tree is also doing well, despite some little brown spots on the apples. I'm eating them regardless! :-)

My rain gutter grow system is really going crazy! Look at these:

Those are collards in the blue buckets, my ketchup and tomatoes plant in the orange bucket (which has cherry tomatoes on top and potatoes growing in the bucket), carrots in the white buckets...and some extra tomatoes in the ground. The plants in the buckets, I kid you not, grow exponentially every day. I can see the roots sticking out of the bottom of the buckets into the rain gutters. I couldn't be more pleased!

Here are the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers:

Here is a closeup of my Mexican Gherkin cucumbers, which are in the first two orange pots in the left side of the picture. They will look like miniature watermelons with the taste of a cuke when they are mature:

I know...so cute, right? Next up is the basil in my raised bed that seems to finally be taking off. I grew all my basil from seed, so I am quite proud of this little beauty.

Here is one of my raised beds with tomatoes, basil, and two rogue garlic plants that finally decided to grow (it only came up a year late!):

Last but not least, here's the latest addition to the Fat Earth Backyard Farm: 

It's a beautiful cedar garden sign that is now hanging in my garden cage.  Well, I think that about covers everything...for now.

Until next time...

Happy gardening!

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