The Garden in July - Big News!

 Well, it's big news to me, at least. I doubled the size of the garden this year, from 6 beds (12' x 4') to 12. And the yard also got fenced - finally! The dogs are LOVING it - especially Katy, who figured out really quickly that she can squeeze under the fence at the low spots - grrrr.

New garden beds!

New fence! Hello neighbour dog!

One of the benefits of installing the fence was being able to put perennial plants along it - aka I finally have fruit!! (Well, the potential to have fruit in 2-5 years). But because I am cheap frugal, I waited until later in the season to take advantage of end-of-season sales that most large garden centres start in July. Of course, July isn't the best time to plant things, and added to the hot, dry year we are having....

Oh well. The sales, combined with a $50 gift certificate for a big box home renovation store that also has a garden centre (thanks, Air Miles), allowed me to get 5 currants (2 red, 1 white currant and 2 black) 3 blueberries (all different varieties, since that increases fertilization), 2 rhubarb and one more Concord grape to join the two other grapes (one Concord, one white whose variety I've forgotten!) that I bought last fall and over-wintered in the pots - all hail a mild winter! Yes, Concord grapes - the bane of our local wine industry. Trust me, and anyone else who drank Niagara red wine prior to the 90s - Concords do NOT make good wine! But they are the BEST variety for grape juice and especially jelly.

None of the plants are looking fantastic, and I think I'm going to lose one of the rhubarbs, in spite of daily, deep watering, but 13 (or 12, depending on the fate of the rhubarb) fruit plants for under $55... not bad! If I bought at regular prices, and didn't have the gift certificate, I would have spent well over $130.

Grape! One benefit of chain link fences - no additional fencing needed to support the vines.

Rhubarb - I cannot wait for next spring!

The row of currants and blueberries.

I still need to move the asparagus from one of the garden beds into it's own bed, and find a space for raspberries and strawberries. The herb garden and mints are also going to be moved, giving me all 12 beds for my veggie garden. But I'm going to wait a few more weeks to start that - the plants will have a better chance at surviving the transplanting if it's cooler.

Despite the past few days being full of clouds and thunderstorms, we've had no significant rain. In fact, the sprinkles we've gotten over the past two days came in well under 1/4" - nowhere near enough. So, if you are looking for me, I'll be out watering...