Well, it’s summer and that usually means a bunch of garden updates for you all, as that does take a decent amount of energy to maintain but I’m pregnant and sweaty this summer… and sore (hello, second baby, #amIright?) so I’ve been a bit less enthusiastic about working in the garden, but I have managed to do a few things. Will and I water out there a couple times a week and I try to pull some weeds and harvest while I’m at it.

But it had gotten out of hand because we hadn’t had a chance to mulch it or clean the sprouts out of the fence yet…so we spent several hours weeding and mulching the garden last week and it was a huge job. Just look at those sprouts coming through the fence and the grass EVERYWHERE in the mulch. Sheesh!

It probably took both Wyatt and me working together a good two hours to get it all cleaned out.

Then we added like 15 bags of cedar mulch. It does cost a little more but we use that because it helps keep the bugs at bay naturally, and it doesn’t decompose as quickly, plus it smells nice and looks nice.

We had to do most of that during naptime and when we had grandparents here to entertain Will since it was such a big job, but he is great at helping with the weekly or daily stuff we do out there.

Mostly, he loves filling his little bucket and carrying it over to water various things. I don’t think he tries to get soaking wet during this process, but he doesn’t mind when it happens, that’s for sure.

And he’s so cute and concentrates so hard on doing a good job that I don’t mind either. I do prefer it when I remember to put on his water shoes at least, but thankfully his tennis shoes dry fairly quickly too.

You can see our tomatoes have turned into a tomato hedge, maybe thanks to what a good job he’s done with the watering?

In all seriousness, those six plants are LOADED with tomatoes, but I don’t see how they’ll get enough sunlight to ever ripen. I’ve thinned them three times and may have to just give up. They are crazy. Seriously crazy.

In contrast, the peppers are losing their leaves and just not doing much of ANYTHING! (The peas are hanging on though, and actually doing really well with all the recent rain we’ve had.)

I’m not sure what the problem with the peppers is but I’m hoping they get with the program soon or we won’t get any. We’re just now starting to get some blooms and little bitty baby peppers! Seriously, we’ve picked two peppers so far this year and that’s it. LAME.

The okra looks good though. I honestly don’t like okra that much but I think the blooms are gorgeous so I plant them for that.

The eggplant is also doing well. Will loves when there are big purple eggplant on it. He gets so excited when he sees them. They are exciting to me too, so I get it. They are just so colorful and fun. I always say they look like jewels shining out there. We only have one plant this year and we usually have four. So, we shouldn’t be overrun with it like we sometimes are.

The cherry tomato is getting so tall that it has fallen over and is now growing back towards the ground again. It outgrew it’s cage so I don’t know what else to do for it. The blooms are mostly at the top so I hate to trim it. For now, we’re going with it. At least this one doesn’t have as much greenery hiding all the little tomatoes and they are yummy!

There are a few carrots (a very few of the seeds I planted came up) around the base doing okay. I think Will will love pulling those up in a week or two.

We actually planted a few more seeds today so maybe we’ll get a few more things before fall. All in all, it’s been a bit slow out there, which I know is because we planted everything like a month late. We did get two nice green bean pickings, which weren’t documented, but still totally count as a success.

This rain should give things a boost and we’ll hopefully have a good month. Assuming it doesn’t turn out to be 100 degrees this week before the new seeds have a chance to get started. Fingers crossed!

All in all, I’m feeling so much better about the state of things out there. The rain may be good for plants, but it’s also hard to keep the weeds down so I’m very glad we got the mulch done before that. Will is pretty good at weeding too, but you have to watch him or he’ll pull out the actual plants with them!

I have to share how nice our cucumbers are doing though. They look so healthy for this time of year. Again, probably because they were planted late. Have any of you local peeps had my cucumber ranch buffalo dip? It’s AMAZING and I just want to eat it all day every day. Anyone want a recipe post about that or do you all not like cucumbers? Some people don’t, which I don’t get…

Maybe we’ll even make some pickles this year again!

We do still have to weed and clean our the “berry area” because we left it alone the last time. We need to get in there with some leather gloves and rip out all the crazy raspberry canes that have taken over. And yes, pull weeds. And maybe straighten the leaning  mesh house a bit?

But even with that still needing to be done, it’s WAY better. As a reminder, here’s a before and after for you from similar angles.

See how much of a difference it makes to get the sprouts cleaned out of the fence? Plus, mosquitoes hang out in those sprouts and wait to attack me I think. So, now that they are gone, it’s just nicer out there all around.

ta-da!

You may have also noticed an update to one of the garden beds. The white is PVC and it is going to be awesome if we can ever get it done. More to come on that soon!

In the meantime, there’s a not-so-short garden update for you all, just to prove that we are doing SOME things around here, even though updates are a bit slow. I’m trying to get back caught up and have a list of posts to get written so I’ll be working on that, I promise! We have so many things started and just a lot of tiny little progress happening in each area.

What are you working on this summer? Anyone doing a basement reno? A nursery design? A master bedroom refresh? What about a garden?