Look what I found out enjoying my front yard......a wild turkey with two chicks. This is my favorite time of summer.  In the afternoon we have clouds roll in and occasionally enjoy a rain shower, lightening, and thunder.  Thankfully no wildfires yet.  Hope you are enjoying the beauty and blessings of summer.

Can't wait for these to ripen.

The white powder is Kaolin Clay sold as Surround.  It's a pest deterrent.  Great for organic growers and most crops.

Flower Beds

I like my gardens to be beautiful so I interplant them with flowers.  The flowers are great for attracting beneficial insects which need nectar when they are adults and feed on pests when they are larvae.  I also have lots of flowers beds with shrubs, perennials, bulbs, and annuals.  My goal this year was to have time to keep my flowers deadheaded.  I'm a little behind on this but will get to it next week.  Lots of my perennials are in need of being divided and will be looking for loving homes next spring where their beautiful will be admired and enjoyed.  I've posted come pictures of some of my flower beds.  Hope you enjoy them.

Warm Color Bed

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Part of tiered landscape

When I prepare a flower bed I do it just like a garden bed-  add compost and a dry organic fertilizer.  In early spring I add my dry organic fertilizer mix and compost on the tops after cleaning out the beds.  I don't do much else expect try to give fish emulsion to new annuals and perennials.

Hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees are frequent visitors.

Double Enchinacae

Blanket Flower

Salvia a favorite of bees

Day Lily

Love this variety of snapdragons.  They are 2 feet tall.

Campunula, Larkspur, and Shasta Daisey

Campanula a great  perennial that grows in mounds and is about 18 inches high and blooms mid summer

Enchinacea

Catananche a favorite perennial.  The flowers close in the evening.  It is self sowing.

The Garden in July

So my husband and I spent the last two days weeding....the corn and pumpkin field. Nothing feels better than a freshly weeded garden.  If only it would last......We also squashed squash bugs (gives me the chills every time), sprayed for squash bugs with neem and pyrethrin and fertilized with fish emulsion.  Monday I'll be doing the same in the garden then move to the flower beds and then the orchard and the start all over again.

The corn field with the Kolobs in the background.  I love where I live.

Potatoes

The raised bed garden

Orange Fantasia Chard.  I use this  sauteed in herbs and added to pasta dishes.  My goats and chickens also like chard.

Pink Lipstick Chard

Chard and Kale

Carrots

Green Beans  My favorite variety is Slenderette.

Pickling cucumbers, Armenian cucumbers and Summer Dance Cucumbers

Tristar and Ozark Strawberries

Kamut an ancient wheat.  I'm exploring growing grains.

Rhubarb

Asparagus

Wild sunflower.  Absolutely beautiful!

Mullein.  The weed I do allow to grow because its has so many medicinal purposes. 

Grapes

Love my ducks!  They are preening after a swim.  Thye love squash bugs.  When I can't stand squishing them and put them in a bucket and throw them in the duck pen.  They chase them down and eat them.

True Dedication

I was sick over the 4th of July.  My wonderful husband spent his holiday weeding one of my gardens.  Thanks honey!