In the May Garden

Finally!  My May vegetable garden.  These pics are from before we left for our beach trip, so before May 14.  My computer keeps shutting down every time I tried to upload pics from my mac to the blog, which has made this very tedious indeed.

herb garden

This is all in my back yard.  My vegetable garden is a kind of parterre design, with a center square set on the diagonal, and then 4 somewhat triangular beds set off from each side of the square by narrow brick walkways.  On the side of all of this is my herb garden, a part of which is seen here.  It is a circular bed, edged by dishes that belonged to my deceased mother in law, and surrounded by brick pavers that separate the area from the vegetable garden on the one side, and my blueberry bushes on the 2 other sides.  I have thyme, germander, oregano, french tarragon, bronze fennel, lemon balm, and chives (along with the bowl of sedum on the chair).

chicken coop

strawberries

corner of vegetable garden

vegetable beds

Looking out from my herb garden past the blueberry bushes you can see my chicken coop.  It looks like either Gwynno or Pomegranate coming out from the door there.

Over between the fence and the back of the driveway I put in the "garden annex" last year -- raised beds made from concrete blocks.  Strawberries are planted in the holes of the blocks lining the beds.  I saw this done both at the community garden at Seaside, Florida (where we go to the beach for a week in the summers) and the community garden here at University of Memphis.  I would have thought the plants in the blocks would burn up during the hot summers -- but they do very well.  Maybe it's a little insulating against the heat.

Here is a corner of my vegetable garden, facing the herb garden.  There is a swiss chard planted in one planter by the arbor and hyacinth bean planted in a pot on the other side.  In these two corner beds I have chard, lettuce, broccoli and sugar snap peas.

And here is a bit of an overview of the vegetable garden, showing the center square and the front triangle.  In the center square I have tomatoes and "tricolor" bush beans.  In the triangle I have asparagus beans, some peppers and eggplants.

The flowers in between the beds are showy primrose, which is coming up between the pavers.  I usually let it carry on and when the flowers have pretty well played out I pull it out (otherwise I can't walk between the beds).

I also have okra, squash, and cucumber seedlings tucked around in various beds.

We have been at the beach over the past week, getting back last Saturday -- and the garden now?  I feel like I need a machete to cut my way through!  And we have 90 degree temps with a hundred zillion per cent humidity, and a threat of humongous storms this afternoon and tonight.