June's Garden (2026)

The garden was ignored while we partied and vacationed - absolutely no regrets. Our sons came home for two weeks. Reese dug the potatoes one morning but other than that, our time has been spent trying new recipes, grilling, and enjoying each other. The weeds took no time off.

This morning I braved the heat and inspected. 

It looks shaggy and there is much work to be done but it survived our neglect. The empty potato rows will be planted soon with tomatoes, squash, beets, and sweet potatoes. 

The fire ants we are trying to evict by harassment has killed a cantaloupe plant as revenge.  After watering the garden, the nozzle of the hose is hung on the fence beside the gate over a cantaloupe. It is a convenient way to avoid losing it in the weeds. The fire ants were drawn to the moisture, dug tunnels underneath, and killed the roots.

We drowned them with water again and instead of moving away from the garden and into the yard where we can hit them with poison, they relocated further down the row.

We will continue to flood their colony until they leave but until then we must tread carefully and harvest slowly.

This is how purple hull peas spread if you let them go wild while taking a break. We have two of these rows.

Yesterday we tied up the one in the shade and it was hard. Bill said "never again. Next year the stakes and strings will be up before we put the seeds in the ground."

We have really waited too long to do this. Finding the peas amongst the jungle of vines will not be fun but it will be easier if contained.

Now for the success stories.  These are the biggest onions I have ever grown! They were purchased last spring, stored in the refrigerator, planted in the fall, and grew all winter. Thrice they were lightly fertilized with 13-13-13 and being grown in horse manure certainly helped. However, not one red onion grew larger than a half dollar. Why??

After everything went wrong last year with the green beans, switching to the Volunteer half-runner variety was a great decision. We must pick every few days.
 

There are four green bean plants around three pepper plants. The beans are growing up the fence and along the top. The peppers are supported by the fence and the open space behind them allows afternoon sunshine to peep through. 

Back in the early spring I decluttered my old seeds by tossing them into cups of soil. Unexpectedly, three Sugar Baby watermelons sprouted from 2018 seeds.  They have never done well for me so this has been a shocker. Two are spreading below this row of tomatoes and will meet in the middle. 

Since success has eluded us, we don't know if we will like their flavor; however, taste testing watermelons is a challenge eagerly accepted.

The biggest surprise is that there are still some summer squash alive in my garden! Six are living and four are thriving out of the 12 that were planted. We have gotten five pickings which is more than ever before. We ate squash every day when the boys were here and sent leftover casseroles back with them.

From my experiments on these plants I have learned that putting soil on the stem doesn't work because rain washes it away leaving the unsprayed stem exposed. Running them up a pole allows bug sprays to cover all of the vine but it also puts them at risk of storm damage. The sprinkled wood ash damaged the plants but after adding coffee to the soil, they recovered. It is unclear if it the wood ash really was a borer repellant. Covering them with mesh until they were blooming gave a good head start. I'm not sure if raking the soil and not using a mulch mattered but it will be done again. The experiment is being repeated in every empty space that becomes available in the garden.

When the Chinese vegetables are finished, the net will stay up and squash will be planted underneath. 

The only thing sweeter than the taste of success is the taste of a fresh yellow squash slathered in butter and cheese. 

This morning the Purple Martins who are nesting in the gourd above the garden were teaching their baby to fly. It was quite clumsy landing on the top of the posts. It was enjoyable watching but it reminded me of when my guys left home. I miss them so much. As they left this weekend, each one filled their trunks full of canned, frozen, or fresh goodies from the garden. It will be six months before we are all together again but at least I can still make them home cooked meals. That makes all the garden work worth while.

Last Month's May Garden (20206)

Last Year's June Garden (2025)

May's Garden (2026)

It is raining! The sky is gray, gloomy and I am taking pictures as it is sprinkling! It is wonderful. We shifted from severe drought to a week of slow drizzling rainfall. Everything has been revitalized. The old timers call this a "season rain" meaning it makes the garden successful and there will be plenty to eat come winter. 

Earlier this month was focused on getting the front (southern) part of the garden tilled. 

A few areas have been done but since this was originally the yard, the ground is rocky, weedy, and the dirt is hard clay. It is quite difficult. 

This is May's garden last year when we were installing the fence. It shows how much area has been added. Even though it is bigger, we still seem to be running out of planting space. 

This is Bermuda grass. It has runners that are deep and snap when you pull. Any remaining root will regrow. The ground is like concrete and the tiller won't fit in this tight spot. We plan on removing all we can then covering it with cardboard and mulch.

The soil is being built up at the base of the fence with leaves and compost. Closing the gap under the fence has stopped the rabbits, groundhogs, skunks, and armadillos from entering. They still can dig under but nothing has tried yet. Keeping them out has made a noticeable improvement.

The row beside the fence is being planted with a mixture of whatever is ready to transplant at that moment. This year's garden hasn't had much planning. Everything depends on getting the soil prepared. When a spot is ready, something is planted. 

The compost pile is being emptied to build the new rows and amend the soil. The left side was dug out and then we switched to the right. Weeds are being discarded on the left now. Never do I turn it over because it is too much work - waiting accomplishes the same result. Sometimes we fill it high and the next morning everything it is gone. There maybe a few thieves in the neighborhood. 

An army of fire ants are back in the garden. The colony hides under plants, swarms if you step too close, and it hurts when bitten! They are probably looking for moisture due to the drought so we give them all they want. Bill digs up their hills, drowns them along with their eggs in a bucket of water, and if they try to rebuild, he dumps all the water back in the hole.

Usually, they will move to another area but this colony tried to rebuild in the bottom of the water hole. After another douse, the queen moved under the tomato plants. We will continue to chase them until they are away from the garden.

Anyone who has followed me for a long time will know growing summer squash in my area is impossible. Squash vine borers kill them yet for twenty years now every season I try something different to out smart them.This year they are under a new hoop house net (no holes anywhere) which is removed when the squash begins to bloom. 

These were bought at a local nursery and immediately placed under cover since the borers have attacked my starter plants on the front porch. The extra leaves have been stripped away, the vine tied up a stake to make it easier to spray the stem with mineral oil, and then it was sprinkled with wood ash. Soil has been mounded high over the stem for extra protection. Mulch won't be added so the soil can be regularly raked to not allow any hiding places. A local gardener said her grandfather always sprinkled wood ash as a repellent. She didn't know how much to use, or where to put it, or how often it was to be sprinkled so all of this is a guess. Wood ash changes the PH level of the soil so coffee grounds will be added to hopefully, restore balance.

 

The poor plant at the end of the row seems to have gotten a bit too much wood ash. It will be sacrificed as the control plant and will receive no help other than a cup of coffee to see if anything I am doing makes a difference. Perhaps all the borers will attack it and leave the others alone? Time will tell.

Maybe wood ash is squash vine borers' kryptonite? If it works, I can patent it and make a fortune!

Overall, the garden is doing fantastic now that it has rained. 

As for me, I'm drinking all the coffee I want without feeling guilty - it is to save the squash! They need the grounds. Seconds please. 

Last Month's April Garden (2026)

Last Year's May Garden (2025)

April's Garden (2026)

This month has been spent getting the garden rows created. The soil has been raked up to form raised beds going east to west and then grass has been placed on the walkways. It has been backbreaking work; but hopefully, it will be an improvement.

The last bit of edible spinach is being harvested and the rest allowed to go to seed for fall planting. Saving spinach seeds is something I haven't gotten the hang of.  In the past, I always forgot them until it was too late. The spring spinach is now ready and it is the first time I have ever been able to overlap the harvests. A successful first!

Some of the Unzen Early Flat winter onions that were in areas needing to be plowed were transplanted to empty spots in this bed; surprisingly, they lived even though they are maturing late. I guess that ruined their earliness. 

This front (south) area will be plowed and planted eventually. We haven't decided how to arrange the rows or what we want to do. The new strawberry bed is doing great except that the birds and squirrels have found them. A net will be covering them from now on.

They must be harvested daily which is a labor of love. We finally have more than you can eat while picking so a few have made it to the freezer.

The middle section of the back (north) garden has seeds that mostly haven't sprouted yet. They are in the ground just waiting for the right moment to pop out.

As each row is planted the edges are raised to form a dam so the water will not run off.  After the plants are established a mulch will be added. We are expecting a drought this year...as always, so some new things are being tried. The onions will stand up straight after their roots are stronger.

Everything that needed to be planted early was placed against the perimeter fence.  

This bed is stuffed full. Snow peas are running up the back, onions will shade the spinach plants, and in the tiny space on the right beside the post will soon hold one pole Lima bean. It should vine up the fence and trail along the top. It looks crowded but one sizeable salad harvest will thin it out quite well. The snow pea leaves are also delicious in green salads.

The potatoes are thriving in the back corner. We planted more this year because canning fries in the air fryer has become a favorite winter dish.

These are the onions behind the potatoes that were planted last fall. Nothing could be moved and it threw off the new spacing of the beds. Spinach was squeezed in the thin space against the back fence. The tree leaves haven't completely come out yet so there is still plenty of sun. Hopefully the onions will be almost finished when it becomes shady and the spinach should appreciate the shadows.

Lettuce was tossed into the back corner because there was nowhere else available at the time.

The rest of the garden is sitting on the front porch waiting to be planted. 

Historically this season is known as the "starving time" when the past year's food has been consumed but the new garden isn't producing yet. My pantry inventory revealed we have eaten much of our food, way more than ever before. The shelves are bare enough to make me nervous. It has been a combination of learning new recipes and focusing on rotating the stock to avoid any waste that has emptied it out. We have improved our eating habits by relying less on the supermarket and more on the garden. However, it has shifted more work and responsibility to us and it has changed from a hobby to a necessity. I think my next hobby will be something easier like sitting on a couch deciding which movie to watch.

Last Month's March Garden (2026)

Last Year's April Garden (2025)