Blissed Out & Back to Eden...

I'm so blissed out on gardening!  It's all I think about really. It's all I really want to be doing. It's a dream come true to have this little space.  Our hollyhocks are being visited often.  The bees, butterflies...

& caterpillars.  Seems like every little creature wants to be near them.  This little guy and his buddies are having a feast on the leaves.  Does anyone know what he is?  He's tiny and fast moving.  And I'm not sure if I should be plucking them off or just watching them because they are fascinating.  Are they a threat to our veggies? 

We planted sunflowers between the Oleanders & now it's a race to see who will grow faster.  I'm hoping they will reach the sun first.  I love sunflowers and this is most likely the only year we'll be able to have them unless we have more unusually cold winters (freezing the Oleanders & requiring us to cut them down to the ground) in the future.

We've been spotting lots of these little guys as well.  They have a big job as our Oleanders have quite the orange Aphid problem. Thankfully, I've read these type of Aphids do not have a taste for veggie gardens.  Every morning I spray the Oleanders down with the hose trying to get every Aphid I can see. Slowly, the population seems to be dwindling.

Our cantaloupe is looking lovely!  Owen is very excited about them.  They are his favorite fruit.

Sweet peppers, tomatoes, green chile, & cucumbers growing & growing.

My mouth waters just looking at the tomatoes!  I hope we have a plentiful harvest this year!  Last year we had only handfuls.  

Now, I'm starting to think about how I can expand!  We really only have room for one more 4 x 4 square foot garden where the pallet is now.  I want to build it in time for the start of our fall garden.  I'm really looking forward to some greens. 

I'm very impressed with the square foot garden.  Without realizing it I conducted an experiment.  I planted marigolds in the ground & a marigold in the square foot garden.  The one in the square foot garden is 4 times as big as the others and they get about the same light.  I think the soil is just far superior then the soil in the bed that we've tried to amend. 

Marigold seeded in the square foot garden.

And much smaller marigold seedlings in the in-ground bed.  The soil here is much denser, drier & starting to compact. 

By the way, I recently watched a video that I'm really fascinated with called, Back to Eden.  I've been telling every gardener I know about it.  

This video is Christian based, but I think it has something to offer anyone of any religion or no religion.  I don't agree with everything he says religiously (some of it) but his common sense & observation of nature is sound. This video is about organic gardening and using the chipped wood mulch method to cut down on weeding, prevent soil compacting, retain water & displace water, amend topsoil & replace fertilizer, etc. It also talks about farming today & loss of top soil & many more things. How he finds his answers is inspiring & fascinating! I think I'm definitely going to try it in the above in-ground bed as well as around our Oleanders. I'll let you know how it goes.

Until next time...