Summer Garden Week 5

Well I took the pictures on time (last Sunday) but haven't had a chance to post the week 5 update until now. We are still having issues with beetles eating the plants, but let's take a look at what else is going on this week . . . .

First off, I planted a whole bed of beans last weekend and they are already starting to sprout - looks promising. As you can see I've gone for the 'square foot garden' approach in this bed, something we had stopped doing for some reason or other, but I think it looks much neater so I thought I'd give it a try again. Most of these beans are green beans but one row on the right is black beans! Never grown them before but it will be fun to see if we can.

Does anyone know anything about pomegranate trees? We planted this one 3 years ago when we moved in here (along with all the other fruit trees) and so far haven't had one fruit off it! Last year we only just had two flowers on it, but this year we have a lot more.

The flowers, while very pretty, always look as if they are dying off before they fully open, and there doesn't look like there's any 'bulb' behind the flower that might turn in to a fruit.

and while I'm asking questions, can someone tell me why my broccoli hasn't got any 'heads' in them yet either? We planted them way back in March! Carla mentioned her broccoli was the same a few short weeks ago, but then earlier this week she showed a picture and hers now has a lovely 'head' on it... go check it out HERE.

Grapes are looking good though.

and tomatoes are getting big!

I am still trying hard to grow squash plants... the seeds I planted last week look great. The little ones you see are tomato seedlings. Since I took this picture bell peppers have started to show too.

These are sad looking melon plants (honeyew and watermelon) that I bought at the store a few weeks ago but didn't want to plant out because I knew the beetles would just eat them... but then I had to plant them because they were looking a little 'leggy' and kept getting dry in the little pots too. I don't think much will come of them to be honest.

What to do with all the seedlings I've got if I don't want to plant them in our beds? Well, we thought we'd try something new. . . . I bought a ready made 'sq ft' garden bed at Lowes this week, they were $40. I thought we might get 2 or 3 actually and put them on the side of the house and fill them with healthy (grub free) soil. Then I thought it was a bit costly to do that so I decided on an idea I've seen online - where you take a kiddies paddling pool, put holes in the bottom and fill that with soil . . .

I planted some squash seedlings in it, but these were already starting to look pretty sad too, I think the beetles had found them (they were sitting on my patio table once they started sprouting). Since this picture was taken I've planted the healthy looking squash seedlings (see pic above) and so far so good. I am determined to get some zucchini again this year!!

We've been doing well with fertilizing on a regular basis, we usually do it every Sunday. Didn't get to do it last week because of Mother's Day!

I'm linking to Fertilizer Friday at Tootsie Time this week.