May in the Square Foot Potager

I like to refer to the garden as a Potager.  Because it has beautiful blooms, and it has veggies and herbs too!  I do keep them somewhat separate.  Sort of.  That is to say the kitchen garden is near the kitchen.  The roses are all over, the irises invade various spaces and the herbs squish into wherever I can fit them.  The herbs are really my favourites.  So are the roses.  And the vegetables.  OK I don't have favourites!!

This is the herb garden.  Well, it is the square foot garden I set aside for herbs.  You can see some of my new aquisitions there- top left- Chamomile.  Just above that is Greek Oregano (I love oregano) and borage just above that.  That big thing in the middle is, I think, Tansy.  It's a volunteer.  As is the teeny tomato plant next to it- right behind the almost blooming chives!  Ignore the weeds please, I forgot this garden yesterday!
The rest are basil, with a small appearance from the kid's strawberries on the far right.

Meet straightneck yellow squash.  We planted the seeds last week.  There they are sprouting.  Yes, they are in a pot.  They are in a pot because I ran out of room in my vegetable garden and because squash and zucchini kind of go mad in the garden.  Since only I and my daughter eat them, I have one of each.  I will also have a pink winter squash once some of the spring veggies make room.  Which might be a little sooner than I'd like- the warmer weather is not helping!

That's zucchini there.  I bought heirloom varieties of these because I knew that growing them from seed would let me :)  I am hoping to have somewhat resistant plants because those horrid squash bugs try to get my plants every year.

Meanwhile, the peas are blooming.  I love their flowers!  We should shortly be seeing pods- so I am excited.  I am hoping for a second pea crop later this year- it will be my first year trying for an autumn crop, so we'll see how it goes.  I might give up when summer comes- it gets overwhelming here in the humid South!  (Particularly if you are English born and bred).

The cool crops are looking rather nice.  There are the lettuces and spinach, ready to pick a few leaves.  The shallots are looking good, and the garlic there at the end- well they look pitiful but never mind them- look at the broccoli!!
The plants in the other bed are producing flowers, I hope to harvest some soon!

See what I mean about the lettuce?
Yes, the bright green (volunteer) lettuce is in the spinach bed...

No flowers on these ones yet...

Here are the green beans.  They have really taken off all of a sudden!  I guess they liked the hot weather!
You can see the new sage hiding there on the right between the beans and the carrots.

There it is again- with the carrots in the top right.
I usually end up feeding the carrots to our rabbit- and M'Lady who loves them.

Limas look good too.  The white things are rose petals- we've had a lot of wind lately.

Which also explains their presence in the corn too.  There is also a rose limb in the corn- because the rose wants to go there.  Actually the rose is next to the corn and one stray, blooming limb likes it in the corn bed.  It'll be dealt with once it stops blooming ;)
Meanwhile the corn keeps growing, even when the new neighbour puppy comes to visit and tramples on it!  You can't see that one...

Oh look- the new rosemary and some Swiss chard!

The advantage of buying my peppers, is that someone else, with a greehouse, can give them the start they need.  EARLY enough :)  So now they are blooming.  There are three varieties- a bell, a poblano and a jalapeno.  One of each, in separate pots.  I think this is the poblano.

Here it is, full length- next to the new peppermint.  Also conveniently contained in a pot.  I will not let it go free to run in the garden- the lemon balm, motherwort and apple mint are already having too much fun!

The sungold in a pretty pot near the ugly tiki torch :)  I love the tiki torches... they work pretty well if you don't accidentally tap the gnats inside the area you are in!

The other tomato, the bell pepper I accidentally decapitated and the jalapeno pepper.  Oh, and the squash :)
Don't worry, the decapitated pepper is growing new shoots, so I still hope for some yummy bells from it!

Potatoes.  I need to bring the soil level up a little.
Well actually I am thinking more of mulching up some, but I still need to do it ;)

Blooming comfrey- going a little wild :)

The white bloom there is valerian!

Pineapple sage (also new) and a wormwood (yes, it is new too).
You can't see the new lemon verbena I planted- because I have yet to photograph it!!

Look at the lovely peonies!  They smell wonderful too!

And the third of our irises- the blue and the yellow are still going strong.
(That's a sow thistle behind it- these run along the ditch and it is really hard to get rid of those and the grasses with them!).












See- told you the blue was looking good!

Happy gardening!