My Organic Garden to date - almost summer!

15 hours ago
2 min read

Ground cherry flower with text, "State of the Garden, Almost Summer 2026". — Ground Cherry Flower - Almost Summer!

I can't even call this a garden update when somehow it's June and this is my first post about it! I shall call this the garden to date now and then I can do updates later.

A "state of the garden" if you will.

The state of the garden is 😍😍

How do I put that into words? I cannot. She is a bloomin!

Everything is in and most things are thriving. Bear in mind that most of these plants were grown by me from seed. My garden is organic - meaning that I do not use conventional pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. I heard about a new nursery nearby and went for ONE PLANT (bell peppers) but they had a deal and here we are. I got eggplant, orange bell peppers, banana peppers, poblanos, and... Ancho? For many peppers used in Mexican and Spanish cooking there's a name for the raw pepper (jalapeno, poblano) and a name for the same pepper dried (chipotle, ancho). An ancho is a dried poblano and this don't look like no poblano. So we'll see! Likely tagged wrong at the nursery and honestly I swear I thought I bought a Hungarian wax and I would've had these same questions in the nursery and not gotten it.

I have two tarragon plants to put in in the herb garden (ok I lied) and then everything will be in forreal forreal! Again, temptations from the new nursery. They came home with a Roman chamomile that's tucked in next to my marshmallow that's pinky purple flowers are again a big hit with the pollinators.

Speaking of, MY BEE BALM FLOWERED!!!!

Bee Balm or monarda is a perennial that doesn't flower in her first year. This is her second year and she grew tall tall tall and finally opened up to these incredibly frilly purple flowers that are truly a balm for the bees. I had to tie it up after it flipped over but it was so cool to watch it straighten and flop the other way over a day.