It is amazing how quickly the time rolls by – it seems like we were just taking photographs for May – and here we are in July! In spite of high temperatures, little rain and some bad storms – the garden and farm are faring well. We have begun to pick our green peppers, jalapeno, banana and mini belle peppers – as well as a few tomatoes from the “Big Mama” plant. We should hopefully be in prime picking within three weeks for our Roma’s. June was a busy month – we planted the new grape seedlings into the vineyard area – and finished up a lot of work on the barn and patio. Here is the Farm and Garden in pictures for July:
The Banana Peppers are coming on strong – Hot Pepper Mustard is just around the corner!
The Marquette Grapes arrived from the nursery just in time for the first big heat wave! So far so good – they are growing on their stakes. When they grow a bit bigger – we will switch them from the small individual stakes to the trellis lines next spring.
The Barn Pergola was finally completed in June! It will hopefully be a great place to relax in the coming months after long days in the garden.
The Tomatoes are filling out their stake-a cages – we have a lot of green fruit on the vine…ketchup, salsa and sauce should be right around the corner!
Close up of the Roma Tomatoes on the vine
We planted two clematis on the upper pergola – we hope they will grow to fill in the top grid with shade in the coming years
The deer found our purple green beans right before harvest…I hope they enjoyed…
Our newest ornamental pepper we are trying – the poinsettia. They have tons of blooms and little green peppers – now they just need to turn to their vibrant yellow and orange color.
Our favorite ornamental pepper – the Sangria. We put them in a mass planting bed and they are taking off – hundreds of little purple peppers that will turn crimson red in the fall.
Close up of the Sangria Blooms and Peppers
The Four Amigos…four of our hens looking for bugs in the yard. The girls have layed steady through the heat so far – about 8 eggs a day on average from the 9 hens.
The beautiful bloom of a spanish onion in the garden
Zucchini have been holding their own in the intense heat…this is one of the better plants
The Revolution Green Bell Peppers have been producing strong – here are a few on the vine right after a hard rain has splattered them with dirt.
We started work on the framing of the outdoor kitchen structure – we have built most of the shell in the barn to stay out of the hot sun as much as we can
Zinnias in bloom in one of the potted planters
With Dad’s old flagpole in place- the farm starts to take shape. It’s hard to believe just four stakes were in place a year ago to mark where the barn would go.
The front bench got a fresh coat of black paint to match the barn. The bench was a freebie that was discarded by a local business changing it’s decor.
Last but least – we had a few “extra” residents in the barn this past month…Momma bird found a nice place under our loft to raise some little ones.
Our garden signs we made form reclaimed barn flooring.
It all looks just beautiful-well except for the beans. Those deer!
Thank you
It seems the deer know just when they were getting ready to pick!
I love reading your updates! We are gardeners too with a small plot in our city yard and a larger area at my in-laws. We are also in central Ohio, the heat is a doozy this year! I have a question about your stake a cage for your tomatoes. Do you have a full picture of one without the tomatoe plant growing in it? We do not like standard tomatoe cages and I have been trying to explain one to my husband. I think we want to try something like this next year.
Love your posts!
Karen
Thank you Karen for the kind words! And it looks like we will all get a break from the intense heat this week. As for the stake-a cage…you can hit the pinterest button on the right side of the front of our blog page and go to our garden boards – we have a flyer on there that shows the construction. Hope it helps – they really have helped our garden! We made smaller ones for our peppers as well.
Loving your photos – thanks for sharing – what a bounty!
Thank you so much – it’s a lot of work but we love doing it!
Looks great! You should be proud!
Thank you…its been tough with the heat and not much rain – we are certainly going through a lot of our water reserve from the holding tanks!
What a great job you all have done! Someday I hope to get to a point where I can accomplish what I need to in the garden! Perhaps when my babies are so baby like! Are the ornamental peppers really just to look at? Or do you pick them to use?
It’s never easy when you have little ones…then again – sometimes we think it’s even tougher when they grow up
lol Thank you for the kind comments.
Heather – sorry – I forgot to tell you about the ornamental peppers. The sangria are more for just show – very little taste at all – but the poinsettia are used by a lot of people in salads, etc. They have just a tinge of heat to them.
The deer have repeatedly found our beans! Everything else looks wonderful and the barn area is very pretty.
We have a second planting coming up now – we will be using netting this time around!!
What beautiful place! Your garden looks wonderful, and I love your barn. We are just starting out here and are making steady progress. Yours is inspiring.
Thanks for stopping by – and thanks for the kind words. You will get there with yours! We still have a long way to go…but we just keep plugging away every day and eventually you see progress
Every thing looks WONDERFUL! Most years we have to eat a few of the deer just to get our veggies back.
i guess that would be one way to get you vegetables back! We have never had to many problems until this – but now that they know – we probably will.
Love the Sangria peppers…gorgeous!
They are our favorite!!! They just do so well in almost any condition and provide so much changing color throughout the summer and fall!
Wow what a beautiful garden and barn you have! I really need to mulch next year I know it would cut down on a some weeding and watering.
Missy @ http://gracefullittlehoneybee.blogspot.com
Visiting for the first time via Homestead Revival Barn Hop. WOW!……you have a breathtaking farm! I’m here in Indiana…so were almost neighbors
Beautiful photography as well. I’ll be following you from now on.
We are so glad to have you stop by from our neighboring state
Glad you are following and we will stop by to check out your blog as well!
I love seeing how people set up their garden, your garden is very nice, love those purple ornamental peppers! We are growing purple green beans for the first time this year, I look forward to seeing how they turn out, too bad the deer got to yours. All your other veggies look great!
The purple green beans are such a great conversation piece -and a great tasting variety too! The ornamental peppers are our favorite – they are so hardy and so colorful.
Beautiful garden!
Thank you so much! We love being in it and working in it
How adorable. I LOVE the signs ! I am desperate to move somewhere with some outdoor space and have a plot where I can grow lovely things to eat.
http://myfroley.blogspot.com
Keep searching – you will find a place with some outdoor space to grow! Thank you for the compliment on the signs – we knew we wanted a unique way to label the rows – and it seemed perfect to do it that way. You have a great blog btw – enjoyed reading it!
I’m a first time visitor today. Your barn is lovely and I love how you are growing so much of your own food. Enjoy your weekend!
Glad to have you stop by daisy and welcome!!!! Hope you will come back to see what we are up to!
Your barn is beautiful and how wonderful to be building a summer kitchen!
Thank you – and we cant wait to make our first meal outside!
Love the garden and the signs are great!
Your garden looks beautiful! I love those Sangria ornamental peppers. I’d love some in my landscape