My August Update for Hive Community Garden Journal Challenge

August was a good month for growing after a cool wet July we finally got some sun and warmer weather getting a burst of growth in the gardens.

My biggest challenge is to find spots that get good sunlight since I live in the forest with towering evergreens around me. I have taken to having a container garden on my deck which is the best spot for sun.

Pots of Basil, Cucumbers and Green Onions on Deck

Looking at the container garden on the deck from a different view point shows the flowers providing a beautiful display.

View of Flowers by Deck Where Container Garden Grows

I have three different areas on the deck where I have my container garden.

Part of Container Garden With Cucumbers, Herbs, Tomatoes, Peppers and Geraniums

Another View of Container Garden With Cherry Tomato, Lemon Herbs, Rosemary, Basil, Peppers and Geraniums. Apple Tree in Background

Off to the north of the deck is my greens garden and hoop house. I had a few lilies growing in the one corner. My favorite one with a deep burgundy flower bloomed by the burgundy lettuce and red tipped lettuce

Close Up of Burgundy Lily Flower by Greens Garden

Cut and Come Again Lettuce Patches in Green Garden

Besides the lettuce I have kale, rhubarb chard, cilantro and the sweet Cicely growing in the green garden.

Kale and Rhubarb Chard Growing by Sweet Cicely

Also in the greens garden I have some cat mint growing for JJ which he loves to chew and roll on.

JJ Getting Into the Cat Mint

Here is the effect the catmint has on JJ...

JJ Getting High Off Cat Mint

Below is an overview of the greens garden and hoop house. You can see what I mean about being surrounded by evergreens.

Overview of Greens Garden and Hoop House

Inside the hoop house I made a raised bed with the north wall lined with shiny siler wrap to reflect the sunlight increasing what sun the plants will get. I grew some cucmbers there which did very well providing the long English cucumbers. I had pepers in that bed but in the cool wet weather they shut down and never started producing again so I didn't get much of a crop of them. Just enough for a few dishes of stuffed peppers and pepper poppers.

Cucumbers Growing Well Inside the Hoop House

I had my tomato plants stringed up on a bar which I could hit to vibrant the plants and help pollinate the flowers. I got a few vine ripened tomatoes but mostly in August they finally began flowering again which was leaving it pretty late for vine ripened tomatoes.

Set Up Useful for Staking and Pollinating Tomato Flowers

I had a variety of determinate tomato plants, Roma tomato plants and the German strawberry tomato plant which produced huge tomatoes! I can't wait to taste one (I hear they are very sweet) but they keep getting bigger and are not quick to ripen.

Close Up Tomato Plant with Roma and the German Strawberry Tomatoes

Out in the back courtyard I had a display of different varieties of geraniums that my daughter-in-law had got while working at the university greenhouse. I really loved the double flowering ones.

Variety of Geraniums Growing in the Courtyard

I did have another outdoor garden which didn't produce to well as the weeds took over in the cool and wet plus the moles took out a number of plants.

Anyone have a good solution for mole control in the garden?

I have a large raspberry patch which produced well so we could put some away in the freezer.

The only thing in the indoor garden was the cannabis plants and my aloe vera.

We had troubles with mold growing the cannabis in the hoop house so we decided to try a summer crop in the sunroom indoor garden. It is doing well after getting an infestation of spider mites under control and is ready to put under 12 and 12 for budding.

Cannabis Trimmed and Ready to Go Under 12 and 12 for Budding

Since I wrote this post we have had a severe frost warning so I have harvested most of my outdoor crops and bought a lot of plants indoors to keep gardening in the indoor garden so my September update will look quite different.

This is my entry for Hive account@simplymike 's Hive Community Garden Journal Challenge. Details here
All photos taken with my Canon Powershot

Thanks for stopping by!

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