In the month of June - how does our garden grow

June has been the time for growth around the garden. The weather is warming up and the heat loving plants like tomatoes and peppers and melons are loving it, while the cool crops are acting a little fussy.

In only a few short weeks, since mid May, we have seen a lot of plants take off.

Midgarden view looking southerly

The tomato plants are getting greener and bigger each day and they have begun to flower and have the first tiny fruits.

The bush bean plants are getting taller and the intermediate climbers are beginning to send out tendrils looking for something to climb. We have added some trellising around the bean beds so that the plants don't lay down in the pathways between the beds and also to give them something to grow on and against.

The Huatusco pepper plants have begun to flower and in no time I'm sure we'll see the emergence of tiny pepper fruits.

The seed potato plants in our potato boxes have grown up through the first layer of soil and we recently added another layer to cover up this growth. Eventually, we will add more boards to some of the boxes and add more soil around the leaves and stems so that the potato plants can produce more tubers.

Planted some unusual root crops in some half wine barrels. Mashua and Oca are sometimes called "Lost Crops of the Andes", but surely they are not lost to the people of the region as they are right behind the potato in production in those regions...
Check out this site cipotato.org for more info on these crops and others like them.

Oca is an Oxalis, which most people despise in their gardens.

Mashua looks sort of like Nasturtium and is somewhat related.

The lettuce plants are beginning to bolt, but we are planning to sow more lettuce seeds and then covering them with burlap or shade cloth to keep them cool from the midday sun. This will hopefully slow the bolting of these cool loving crops.

The brassicas are getting bigger and bigger each day. The cabbages are producing beautiful round heads of cabbage that we can't wait to pick in a month or two for our CSA. And the broccoli are producing lots of sprouting shoots and the kale plenty of leaves.

We have added some sunflower seeds in strategic spots around the garden so that we have some beautiful blooms that entice both humans and birds alike.

And we checked on the progress of the garlic and tasted a sample. The garlic is coming along and is spicy and soon we will be able to pull up the plants to cure them.

We've had more compost piles to build as we mow down the grasses along the fence lines. One pile was so big that it slowly leaned over and toppled gracefully in the night to be discovered the next morning.

And lots and lots of watering to continue this growth within the garden. Cool weather crops get a nice overhead shower, while warm weather crops get a slow drip along the length of the bed.

Squash plants like drip line

Rainbow of overhead water on the onion and leek beds

And just for "awwww" factor, this little guy just wandered by our deck outside and I managed to capture some excellent photos of him (or her??). I don't think the fawn could hear me due to the gusty breeze and apparently doesn't know too much yet about humans.

I don't think he could hear me as I walked outside carefully to take his picture

As he wandered around the side of the house he finally looked up and noticed me as I snapped his photo. And then Momma saw me and made big bounding noises which clued him in that he should be wary of me!