Sweet Peas

Garden Gone Wild

Grain Corn

Yesterday morning when I went out to my vegetable/flower garden I was amazed by how wild it looked. This hot weather, combined with an acceptable amount of rainfall, has caused my gardens to flourish. Well, more than flourish, explode into such growth that the cucumber and squash seem to be like huge octopi with their giant tentacles strangling the tomato plants as well as the nearby dahlias! “Gardens gone wild!” 

This spring, I allowed more than the normal amount of space between the little seedlings when I planted them. My past results were never all that successful as my cucumbers and other “viny” plants seemed to dry and wither on our clay soil long before they became a menace to their surrounding neighbours. This summer, even with the trellises and tomato cages that I’ve erected,  the whole garden looks more like a jungle. For the first time ever, I have sweet peas in a rainbow of beautiful colours that have reached the top of their trellis and are now “cascading” down to the ground. The sweet peas are now sharing their space with the English cucumbers and the scarlet runner beans that are fighting for the same territory. In the background, our grain corn is standing guard, almost 9 feet tall and still growing! 

I’m sure that most other gardeners in Ontario have been experiencing a very different year as well. I know that I’m wondering what might still be in bloom by mid-August as it is hard to recall a summer when Rose of Sharon, butterfly bushes and chrysanthemums  were blooming in mid-July. One thing is certain, that the weeds will still be growing as many of mine are going to seed since I’ve been neglecting the dreaded task of weeding in favour of meeting friends for lunch and taking photographs of other people’s well-maintained flower gardens! As well as making and selling framed photo greeting cards, as part of  “Your Garden or Mine”, I will visit the gardens of others and take beautiful photographs of their favourite blooms and secret little corners. I’ll share these with you in my gallery as well as some of the inserts in my posts.