The final bites of that big elephant! Are you going to sod, gravel or other around the beds when the last construction is done?

@GoDawgs the raised bed area will get metal edging and wood chip mulch; that’s why we elevated them on the bricks.
Then finally, maybe over fall/winter we’ll be able to re-sod the backyard. Oooof.

My next scheme is to plan out a front yard landscape that presents a nice street view, eliminates the struggling grass and is low care.
I’m not used to thinking ’low care’ so that will be a challenge lol.

Ah HA! Another elephant is peeking around the corner.

What happens when you use beans as filler in your garden spaces.
From upper left it’s ‘Blooming Prairie’, ‘Borsalino’, ‘Dragon Langerie’ and ‘Tanya’s Pink Pod’.

The neighbors were happy.

While we in NYC for a few days the garden kind of exploded.

Here’s a closer shot of the first Pamplemousse du Grand Père to color break.
Very heavy in the hand.

PlainJane wrote: ↑Wed May 17, 2023 12:57 pm Here’s a closer shot of the first Pamplemousse du Grand Père to color break.
Very heavy in the hand.
IMG_3550.jpeg

Very pretty! Is it setting lots of fruit?

@Seven Bends - a fair amount and all large.
Here is the plant. It’s about 5ft tall, regular leaf and doesn’t seem prone to splitting.

PlainJane wrote: ↑Wed May 17, 2023 4:10 pm @Seven Bends - a fair amount and all large.
Here is the plant. It’s about 5ft tall, regular leaf and doesn’t seem prone to splitting.
IMG_3552.jpeg

Those tomatoes look huge; "grapefruit" is a fitting name. Your plants look really healthy.

VERY nice! I have tomato envy....

These guys are solidly beefy, and bigger than the Claude Brown’s Yellow Giant I’ve grown previously.

I pulled the second one at hint of color break as I’m fearful of a storm pelting it.

Grabbed the first plums to ripen on the counter, and more beans.

I’m hoping to have enough of these Diplomat honeydew melons to share. So far vines are very healthy but let’s see come July.
I plan to succession sow as the new raised beds come online.

The squash want to take over the entire bed. At least the little Eight Ball zucchini are a more manageable size.

Seems like every day I pull a big wad of funky foliage off the tomatoes and then an hour later it looks like I didn’t touch them.

PlainJane wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 9:02 pm I’m growing strictly for butterfly hosting and not fruit. And I have the roots confined to large pots sunk in the ground so hopefully no shoots popping up yards away. These 2 varieties are acceptable to both zebra longwings and gulf fritillaries. Haven’t seen any zebra longwings yet but lots of gulf frits around. Several different swallowtails are covered between the parsley, fennel, citrus and Aristolochia fimbriata.

Same here, passion vine for the butterflies. I had to cover my smaller plant with mosquito netting because they were eating so much of the plant it couldn't grow any leaves.
I also grow various host plants for butterflies. They are part of the enjoyment of gardening for me.
I'm growing the same pipevine (Aristolochia fimbriata) for the swallowtails. I've also got A. watsonii and one that I don't know the name of.
There was no tag when I bought it. Possibly A. tagala.

@PlainJane Your garden build is fabulous. Great job by your husband as well.

Thank you @AKgardener.

Have enjoyed growing Cherokee Carbon for the first time.

Second Pamplemousse du Grand Père heading to Sandwichland today.