Happy Fourth big garden post!
July 03, 2025
If you live in the USA I wish you a Happy Fourth of July. I hope you enjoy this special day and get to celebrate our independence and freedom with fireworks and fun. We are going to Shoreline Amphitheater to hear the San Francisco Symphony and watch fireworks. I'm so excited!
It's been sunny and mild here, ideal growing conditions, and the flowers and veggies have been loving it. We are bursting with tomatoes and green beans but unfortunately watching the bunnies enjoy the cucumbers and squash. We are in the middle of an epic battle and I'm determined to be the winner in this. If you have any bunny advice, please share. The zinnia border is a bit different and more colorful than I've had in years. It's nice because it's bright and the colors really pop making it easy to see from the house and patio. I invite you to come on into the blog too see beautiful pictures of what we have growing this year in our flower and vegetable gardens.
The zinnia border.
I picked this big Gold Medal this morning.
The first BLTs of the season! We had a little mini BLT party with just the two of us. Bliss. Here's hoping for many more to come!
Above and below, Costoluto Genovese tomato, a big Italian beefsteak heirloom famous for its deep ribbing. When ripe they will be deep red, and when sliced will have an almost ruffled edge making it so pretty on a tomato platter.
I sprinkled a packet of assorted flowers on an empty patch in our side yard.
Cosmos
Gladioli and Shasta Daisies
A bee is busy with a tiny borage flower.
The new fence is only one or two years old and the ivy has already grown up and over. Yay! This is the shady back side of the zinnia border. A 12' tall dense ivy fence plus two wisteria growing up and over the trellis creates a lot of shade. We tuck in jasmine and hydrangeas and a few other shade tolerant plants but mainly this is a walkway that doesn't get a lot of attention. When the kids were little, this was a scary place and most likely where the big bag wolf lived. Below is a picture of my grandson when he was two or three when all of a sudden he let go of my hand and took off and ran through like a jackrabbit. At the end and when he got into the sun again, he turned around to look at me and encouraged me to come telling me to be brave and that he would watch me. All day we talked about what a brave boy he was. Such a sweet memory.
We're battling rabbits right now. As soon as a tiny squash appears, they eat it. Frustrating.
I'll be back soon. I've got a few more summer post ideas planned in my head but it's trying to find the time to take the pictures and write a post that stalls me. When I finally settle down to do it, I'm reminded that it's one of my favorite things to do! I love being here and I thank you so much for joining me. Until next time, I hope you are enjoying your summer and finding plenty of time to relax outdoors and enjoy the sounds of summer. In my backyard it's hearing the birds singing, the bees buzzing, and the whoosh of wings as the dragonflies race by. In the evening we hear the hooting of one lone owl. Wouldn't he like a bunny for dinner? xoxo Kristen
I hope you enjoyed my post and found it helpful and will want to come back! I post about once a week and would be honored if you became a subscriber to the Knitionary blog. If yes, please click here. I won't sell your email so no need to worry about that sort of thing. I honestly wouldn't know how to do that anyway. My posts are usually about knitting but also about my other loves--gardening, crafts and entertaining. Sometimes I use affiliate links in my posts to help offset the costs of running a blog. If you click on an affiliate link and purchase an item, I may earn a little money. If you purchase the item using my affiliate link or not, the price will be the same. Purchasing from my affiliate links adds no cost to you but could put a little money in my pocket. Thank you for supporting the blog. If you'd like to make a comment, please scroll down. I reply to each comment and that response will appear directly below your comment. If you would like a personal reply, please know that I use the Blogger platform and they do not give me your contact information when you comment. If you would like a personal reply, you can contact me using the contact form on the right side at the very end of my website.
3 Comments
Your garden is STUNNING!!!!! I live on a very shady lot in Minnesota so I am envious of all your veggies and flowers!!! Thank you for sharing!!!! My garden consists of lots of shade loving plants!!!! Hostas, iris, coral bells...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful BIG garden,,
ReplyDeleteLove the mix of flowers!
Your tomatoes make me so hungry for BLT.
M.Sullivan
A GORGEOUS post, Kristen! We’re at the beach for a final July 4th celebration with a few family members. Lots of memories of much bigger gatherings in earlier years. Bittersweet. Xxxx
ReplyDeleteYou make my day when you make a comment!