This Year's Gardens: Part 10

 When I last wrote about the gardens, we had just fenced in the two open sides of the Hej garden and I had some (some) hope that things would improve. The original fencing is old, with larger weave, and in my naiveté, I thought that would solve the rabbit problem.

I thought that right up to the evening of June 27, when Warren showed some guests the Hej garden and two rabbits INSIDE the garden looked at him and then bolted.

Needless to say, now the entire Hej garden is fenced in with the same small gauge chicken wire and the plants are finally, finally starting to respond. The oldest zucchini plants have beautiful blossoms on them, although I have yet to see any signs of pollination. (Prior to excluding the rabbits, the oldest plants had bitten off stubs where there should have been a blossom.) And the younger plants should be putting out blossoms soon. Two of the cabbages are starting to form and the rest are lifting up their leaves in gratitude that nothing is chewing on them. Finally. Finally. 

So where are our gardens mid-July? The Hej garden is recovering and starting to gather steam. The kitchen garden is going great guns on some fronts. The tomato plants are weighted with fruit. The peppers are playing catch up from, guess what?, rabbit attacks, but I see blossoms starting to open. As for the basil, keep reading.

Early July brought the first of the tomatoes: 

In the spirit of full disclosure, the first four tomatoes, all off the same plant, which happens to be the only one I potted, suffered from blossom end rot. (I had to look it up, folks.) I don't think the still green tomatoes on the same plant have it, and the fruits on the plants in the garden show no signs, so here's hoping. I just cut off the bad part and enjoyed the first one (above) and the three that followed.

July has also brought this: 

The basil is gorgeous this year and I made the first batch of pesto this weekend.

And, while not entirely pertinent to the vegetable discussion, Sunday morning we went to a local nursery and bought two agastache (hyssop) plants. I used to have three in the front bed, but the redbud overshadowed them. I transplanted them earlier this year, but it didn't take. So two came home with us. We will plant them in the kitchen garden by the back garage wall, where they will get lots of heat and light. 

I love these plants. Bees love these plants. So much so that they already are finding their way to them:

The bees have been back, but seeing them already on the agastache makes my heart soar.