July Garden Report

On the second day of lumbago one is suppose to begin walking about ... gingerly. According I did my "crab walk" out to the mailbox and down to the Hillside Garden.


The Great Laurels (Rhododendron maximum Linnaeus) are now in bloom. They are similar to Catawba Rhododendron (Rhododendron catawbiense Michaux) but much more pale in color, bloom later and are fewer in number.


I think them to be every bit as beautiful as the Catawbas even though a show of them in a large group usually is not found.


The recent rains have done wonders for the garden. Here the plot of herbs is having a growth spurt and the sunflowers (in the rear) have gained about a third of their final height of 6 to 9 feet.


The tomatoes are beginning to fruit in earnest now.


The pumpkin plants that I nursed through the dry spell are now starting to get weedy (as they should).


Here's the first little pumpkin to appear, fuzzy and about the size of a ping pong ball.


The first little green beans are appearing on my Mountain Half Runners.


These little hot pepper will turn red before I use them to make sausage.


And, finally, the herb beds up by the driveway — replete with basil! — are out of control. Perfect!