We have worked so hard on our garden this year. I often show videos and snippets of weekly growth over on Instagram. Today I really want to take you on an August garden and greenhouse tour! I can’t wait to show you what’s thriving, and in my next post I’ll share all my “what went wrongs”!
Sit back and fill another cuppa, there’s lots to see here!
In this view we have our pumpkin patch and arch trellis. On the left side of the trellis are scarlett runner beans, and on the right side we have baby boo pumpkins. They are amazing climbers and extremely prolific growers. Can you believe that’s only 3 tiny seeds?
Pictured here are my teddy bear sunflowers. They are so cheerful and happy to me. I plant them in a bed behind my little rest bench is so I can sit in quiet and feel peace.
August Garden and Greenhouse Tour: What’s Thriving
I am so incredibly thankful that things are finally thriving in the garden this year! I have planted a garden of some sort for nearly the last decade (it started with just herbs in a pot, or some tomato plants and cucumbers in a small barnwood garden bed). In all those years planting and learning, we’ve never had the challenges that we’ve recently experienced.
Honey and Pearl corn. I have learned that corn is self-pollinating therefore it does better when you plant at least 12 stalks together. If you have planted corn but the cobs aren’t all fully developed, that means they didn’t all get pollinated. The wind helps to do this job, and it helps so much when you have a little grouping of 12+ stalks!
One morning I went out to check on the garden and I noticed that all of the peppers I’d planted had leaves covered in small green bugs and black eggs all over the backs of the leaves.
After doing a little research I learned that this issue was aphids and needed to be taken care of quick! I try not to use any chemicals or sprays in my garden, so my research for a natural remedy lead me to lady bugs. Did you know that lady bugs are so beneficial to have in the garden? Our aphid infestation had attracted ants because they leave behind a sort of sweet sap on the plants. The ants came in and would take down an entire plant over night.
I ordered some lady bugs on amazon HERE, and within days my ladybugs were released into this bed of peppers. We watched them crawl to the plants and devour the aphids. Within 48 hours, my peppers were completely clean! Check out this video I made on Instagram.
Each day we check on our healthy peppers and I noticed one of my plants even has 13 peppers growing right now! Thank you wonderful ladybugs!
Our kale and romaine lettuce have grown nicely. I didn’t use up my romaine quick enough so it’s trying to shoot! That’s okay, we’ll be enjoying lots of fresh salads over the next couple of weeks.
Other garden posts you might enjoy:
Greenhouse Potting and Shed Inspiration
August Garden and Greenhouse Tour: Attracting Polinators
I planted several things that I thought might attract pollinators this year. It worked! Our little fairy garden, the lavender, basil, runner beans and squash/pumpkin blossoms all really brought in so many. It’s just incredible to watch them work!
The green beans and beets are finally all caught up. One trick that helped my beets was to thin them! It was sad to do, but oh boy could I tell my beets grew happy and healthy this summer. I can’t wait to harvest them!
We love Early Girl tomatoes, and this year I also added some heirloom varieties. I planted Black Krim, Brandywine, Amish Paste and Purple Cherokee. I’ll share more as we harvest and enjoy them!
My very favorite squash to eat is yellow crookneck. We like to chop them up, sauté in olive oil or butter and season with garlic and onion powder. I blacken them a bit and then top with parmesan cheese (get the quality shredded!). We eat it hot, right in the pan and it’s so delicious!
Greenhouse Makeover
This spring I decided to start a huge project and makeover our greenhouse! This space has been so functional for me but it also was starting to look like a storage shed inside. I wanted to make this space beautiful and organized because I enjoy working in that kind of environment.
Painting ended up being a massive task that took weeks to finish! It didn’t help that it was nearly 100 degrees outside (even warmer inside!) so I really only painted early morning and late evenings. I am so thankful to my mom who came to help me, we had some fun chats while painting together 🙂
Soon I’ll be sharing a post with all the details about our greenhouse, where it’s from, how we built it and how my husband installed power and water to the inside!
I often get asked how I learned to garden. My best and most honest answer is that I learned through simply trying! Each year my garden has expanded as my passion and desire have grown. Each year I face a new challenge and learn amazing lessons! Gardening brings such joy, peace and happiness to my life and my family.
Did this August Garden and Greenhouse Tour inspire you? PIN IT!
Your garden photos were delightful to view. Gardening is good for the soul and in these past years has been what kept me feeling there is still hope for this world.
As with everything we do there are successes and failures but we learn from both. I have been a master gardener for over 20yrs and I never stop learning from my experiences and those of other gardeners. So glad you are getting joy from your garden.
I love how your greenhouse turned out!! And your garden has exploded with a lot of wonderful veggies, yum. Everything looks so nice Emily! Thank you for sharing 💞
So very beautiful! All your hard work paid off! All looks so healthy. And love the greenhouse- a bit of heaven out there. 😍