My garden, such as it is...

I had such plans for gardening this year. I was going to grow mostly veggies in the plot at the back of the yard, and prepared a new plot in a half-circle design in which to plant herbs.

Well, we left for our marvelous vacation at a bad time garden-wise, and in the rush of a million things to do (one of us didn't have a passport until three days before we left because this particular person had to send in more proof of citizenship before the passport was processed - slowly; and we had a large, dead tree taken down, the aftermath of which had to be cleaned up; etc., etc...), the grand garden plans became drastically altered.

The back garden plot didn't get turned or planted, and the new plot was barely prepared enough for me to throw seedlings into mere days before we left. The result:

Our only garden plot, a haphazard mix of herbs and veggies, before:

and now:

The veggies consist of four varieties of tomato - three of which we started from seed - peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and I just planted some peas and some bush beans, as an experiment. They are sprouting as we speak and it will be interesting to see if they produce anything before the frost sets in.

The herbs here are medicinal, evening primrose, elecampane, holy basil, motherwort, calendula, and sage. The sage, of course, is also culinary, and we have a few other culinary herbs in pots around the patio.

In one large pot we have two types of basil and a pineapple sage. Here's the pineapple sage, not only is it pretty, it smells just like pineapple:

I also have a couple of gladiolas growing alongside the patio which are beginning to bloom:

Here's a bud ready to unfurl:

One of my favorite medicinal herbs that I'm growing is the holy basil it smells wonderful, I wish the picture was scratch and sniff:

And, of course, the calendula is always so bright and sunny. It just started blooming in the last week or so. It'll continue to bloom until the frost finally takes it:

Unfortunately, the Japanese beetles have been a huge problem this year. Whole trees have been denuded by the pesky buggers. They really like my evening primrose, too, darn it:

The garden plot in the back has reverted to the wild, but wonderful things can be found there if you take the time to look:

The black-eyed Susan is the state flower of Maryland, where I grew up. It's nice to have it make an appearance back there:

These tiny beauties, baby's breath, are a remnant of some mixed wildflower seeds I spread out back there several years ago, they were the only things to grow from the seeds I spread:

And so goes the gardening this year. I had such grand plans, the half-circle herb garden laid out so nicely, and wonderful veggies in the back. The reality turned out a bit hurried and mixed up, but there's always next year!

I've already got my eye on several varieties of heirloom seeds I want to try out in the back, and I'm planning on doing my little medicinal herb garden right, and with a few more varieties of herbs.

I was able to plant a small patch on the side of the house with some yarrow and two types of lavendar, which are doing very well and I hope they overwinter and come back in the spring.

In gardening, hope springs eternal.