The garden is growing very well! I have already had my first harvest of beans and other vegetables that I planted in August. After harvest, I replanted. Below are some pictures of the changes.

Above- dry bean harvest. These are black (turtle) beans and pinto beans.

To the left are some of the string bean harvest. The green beans are Kentucky Wonder pole beans and the purple are Royal Burgundy bush beans. To the right are Lima Beans, which are ready for harvest.

Below are pictures of a bed after the bean harvest (right). I made deep furrows (ditches), added fertilizer and watered. I then planted seeds of Bok Choi, Peas and Carrots. I also transplanted seedlings of Kale, Cabbage, Napa Cabbage and Leeks into the bed; I grew these seedlings in boxes on the back wall of my house. The picture on the left shows the same bed a couple of weeks later, after the seedlings had come up.

Besides the newly-planted bed, there is another bed that was planted about 6 weeks ago. This bed (left) has Kale (right side), Carrots (center), Turnips (left side) and tomatoes (back).

Below left- the first tomatoes of the season! Below right- Seminole Squash.

Below, left picture: Cabbage (upper row), Napa Cabbage (middle row) and Bok Choi (lower row). Below, right picture: Carrot seedlings (upper row), Black Salsify (Scorzonera)(middle row) and leek seedlings (lower row).

Here are a few things I am growing in containers. Below left are bell peppers in a large pot and below right is malabar (vining spinach) growing on boxes attached to the back wall of my house. The butterfly is a newly-hatched Pipevine Swallowtail, which lays its eggs on the nearby Calico Flower vine.

Lastly, I am very excited to show you my banana tree- it is ready to begin flowering! If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the “flag leaf” which is the last leaf to emerge before the fruiting stalk appears. It is the slender, shorter leaf coming out of the center.

Thanks for visiting my garden and check back next month for more updates! Until then, happy gardening.

Dr. Z