Some Pictures

Garden Fresh

I picked some green beans today and heated them in a bowl in the microwave. They were very small and there weren't many of them but they were very good.

The Drape's Garden 2010

It is that time of year again. Actually it is a getting a little late in the season here as summer is almost upon us here in Phoenix.

This year I got off to a late start. I just recently planted some squash, beans and cherry tomatoes.

The reason chose to plant squash and cherry tomatoes because they never fail in our garden. This year I planted the tomatoes and squash around the edges of my garden and focused on planting most of my garden with beans.

I am planting most of my garden in beans for a few reasons. First I want to have a decent crop of beans and since I have a small garden I need to plant a lot to have a good stead crop. I also chose beans because they will be easy for the kids to pick and eat as a quick healthy snack. Finally beans are good for the soil as their roots are good at fixing nitrogen in the soil. They should also produce a good amount of compostable biomass that I can turn right back into the soil and have it break down fairly quickly. Of course this is all theoretical at this point as I have never done this before.

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Summer Can Be Devistating

May was hotter than normal and my garden took a hit at that time. Then June was cooler than normal. Most of June was actually cooler than May. Then July came along and the heat was on again. With tempratures above 110 in July my garden was mostly devistated. Along with the heat came grass that over took just about everything. I will post pictures later... but be warned it is not going to be pretty.

June 11 2008

My watermelon vines are finally starting to put on fruit. I have never had too much success growing watermelon. As you can see form the pictures above things are looking promising this year. This year started my watermelon seeds a little earlier. I have also planted several varieties in a relatively small area. The reason for this was to improve the chances of pollination, to allow the vines to shade themselves along with the melons and to save space and water. It seems to be working so far.

Here you can see my watermelon patch in the foreground with passion flower vine, zinnias and sunflowers in the background.

This picture is the same as above, but with more of my watermelon patch included.

My Other Plants are Doing Fine

Despite the havock in my tomato patch other plants in my garden are still doing just fine.

Zucchini Squash

Watermelon Vines

Bell Peppers

Passion Fruit Vine Seedlings

I planted all of the passioin fruit seeds that I had left over from last year. After several weeks they have sprouted. I have also obtained some root cuttings from some runners that my passion flower incarnata vines have put out. Once it warmed up shoots started showing up in my watermelon patch. I have dug up 3 root segements so far and given them to friends to try planting in pots. It has been a couple of weeks and one person has reported back to me that theirs is growing.