I lined my disused enclosed chicken run with compost, mulched it with burlap, and planted the whole inside perimeter with a bunch of varieties of pole beans hoping that they'll grow to the sloped roof and hang down for easy harvest. They're just starting to grab onto the walls now. I also shook a large packet of bunching onions around the perimeter. No idea how any of this will turn out, but I'm hoping it'll get completely overgrown, turn into a cave, and be a fun place to hang out in with the kiddo when the heat gets (more) extreme.

Related adventure: this year I grew about a hundred and fifty extra seedlings to give away in front of the house, and they're almost all gone after half a week. I thought about it for the last few years and finally decided to just do it. Lessons learned: cherry/pear tomatoes were unsurprisingly popular, and I overestimated how many people like eggplant. Next year I need to grow way more culinary herbs and novelties like roselle, ground cherries, artichokes, and goji--those all disappeared fast. I also put out seeds: everyone loves sunflowers and tithonia, but literally no one wanted to grow chard.

figured out that our big fruiting tree is... an apricot tree! sadly, it seems to be struggling. it didn't fruit at all last year, and some of the bark is sloughing off the trunk, so i'm not sure how much longer it will last. i think it's nearly done fruiting, which is good because the fruit flies are going NUTS out there.

Been falling way behind with gardening because of our full only-thing-standing-is-walls renovation + upkeep of around 50 small trees and a few hedges, but my mother in law came over and weeded all of the overgrown plant beds from the previous owner and planted some tomatoes, pumpkins, and courgette. 😁

My potatoes are in an absolute riot of growth, to the point that they're shading out plants next to them! Lesson learned, next year they get a bed to themselves!

The cucumbers and squash are growing up my trellis arch really well, so I'm hopeful that by the time it gets really hot I'll have some shade there.

It's been wonderful to harvest fresh lettuce for my lunch daily, and I've had some great salads with my radishes. Definitely going to keep succession planting those! If I'd planned better I would have staggered them a little more in my initial planting.

Haven't gotten the photo upload to work with the app I use (Connect) but maybe I'll try from my computer later.

the palm tree out front dropped its pollen branch (idk what they're actually called), and it was a lot of fun watching the tiny pollinators have a field day with it. I have to cut it down before it makes a huge mess, but I usually give them several days to party

there are some Britton's wild petunia across the street that are the only plants outside enjoying this heat wave, they're blooming like crazy. vibrant purple flowers

the sage and amaryllis in my front flower bed are spreading out like crazy, and three different snake plants that I've propagated have started producing babies

My little patch is going strong for the time being. I'll update later when I'm not in a spot that hates my connection to upload a pic.

Currently we have some pleasant tomatos, carrots, parsley, basil, and a safe container of mint elsewhere so it doesn't attempt to take over. Outside of the plot, the grape vine is loving every bit of sunshine it can grab and the blueberry bush is also quite happy.