Spring and early Summer of 2015 was very wet in Michigan. Our garden and yard are growing like crazy. Here are a few photos.
The garden behind the garage. We have two 6′ x 10′ raised beds with Swiss chard, tomatoes, cucumbers, leaf lettuce, carrots, peas, and beans. Between the raised gardens is our potted fig tree that we take inside for the Winter. On the far left is some rhubarb that we have been eating a little – Mmm! On the far right is our compost bin, next to the condenser unit for the air conditioner.
Carrots in the front, peas and beans in the middle, and cucumbers in the back.
Swiss chard in the front, tomatoes in the middle, and cucumbers in the back.
Below and in front of the cucumbers is some leaf lettuce.
More cucumbers and leaf lettuce.
Garden beside the garage with asparagus and rhubarb in the raised garden and Jerusalem artichokes behind.
The blueberry bushes above the rock garden are getting berries for the first time.
I transplanted a sumac tree in the corner of our property and it is growing a lot now.
The pine trees are slowly dying, so I am beginning to replace them with spruce and fir. Here is a small Fraser Fir we planted on our 29th anniversary near one of the pines. When it gets big enough, I’ll remove the pine.
The two willow trees we planted by the pond are doing really well this year. The one in the center of the photo is a corkscrew willow and the one on the right is a weeping willow. You can see part of our large weeping willow at the left of the photo.
We are growing some new trees in pots to add to our yard in a year or two. We’ll take them inside for the Winter until they are strong enough to make it on their own outside. The plant at the far left is basil, so not a tree – it is growing well and is being harvested regularly. Next to it are four hackberry trees – two are growing well and two died – so we’ll have two large shade trees in the yard in several years. On the right is a white spruce and a balsam fir – more replacements for the dying pines.
We took out overgrown rose bushes and put in some new shrubs in the yard.
The blackberries (left) and raspberries (right) are doing well. The thornless Hawthorn tree in the middle is doing well as well as the red bud tree behind it. The Hawthorns on the left and right are mature trees that we uncovered when clearing our wooded area of the intrusive buckthorn trees.
The ornamental pear trees are also doing well and are providing more shade for the deck and house this Summer.
This is a view from our deck to the Northwest, with a Hawthorn tree in the foreground and the trees in the large woods in the background.
