In The Garden (Where Else This Time Of Year?)

Growing California Poppies is something I do most gardening seasons, but the orange/gold coloration of the blossoms was the only one I was familiar with.  (Yes, I am a bit uneducated when it comes to flowers.)

So I was really excited when I stumbled upon this packet of seeds showing multi-colored California Poppies.  Pinks, reds, bi-colored!  Wow, I had to try them.

Uh, where are the pinks, reds, and bi-colored blossoms?  Oh well, at least I got some white ones.

The scarlet runner beans saved by Chicken Mama for me from her plants last year have grown, reached the tippy-top of the tepee trellis and are starting to bloom!  I'm hoping mine will bloom now until frost as hers did last year.  (Carrots showing in the foreground of this bed.)

Can you see (behind all that jungle) the hoop trellis with the sugar snap peas growing on it?  (I did not do a good job of placement of the bed with the hoop trellis in it.  The tall dill and cherry tomatoes in front of it obscure most of the view.)  Anyway, the sugar snap peas only want to grow straight up, reaching their little arms skyward.  I've had to ratchet them down (using soft twine) every step of the way trying to encourage them to grab on to the trellis and climb up it themselves.  If this last foot or so of their vines were on the trellis, I think they would have nearly covered the whole thing.  Now they're so tall, I'd have to take a ladder out to tie down this last growth.  Maybe I'll do that.  Or not.

My bush beans are getting scary.  I've never had such lush bushes.  (The blossoms look good, and the little beanies are just starting.)  This row is made up of green and yellow beans.  The ones closest (I can't remember whether they are the green or yellow ones, and I've convinced myself I marked them incorrectly in my garden book) have spread a good four feet across while the ones farther down the row are more upright.

I wanted some small colored gourds for decorating this fall so planted this eight foot trellis of them down the middle of one of my raised beds.  They took so very long to show through the soil I was sure they weren't going to germinate.  But after the longest time, they started popping up.  Better late than never?  Don't know if they have a chance of maturing now but the leaves certainly look huge, don't they?

My Siberian garlic is starting to show yellow/brown leaves so it won't be long before I harvest it.  That's nicotiana in the foreground which is blooming its little head off this year.

The shell peas (no picture) are going to be ready to start harvesting at the end of this week, I think.  Some of the pods are filling out nicely and the vines still have scads of blossoms.  Yay!!