Raised Bed Garden 2025

This was the year of the butterfly in my yard. Huge yellow, orange and black ones flying around every day. It was hard to get a good picture, but this little guy took his time at the zinnia and allowed me to get pretty close. He's a little beaten up and was a brighter yellow, this pic made everything a little paler.

I was excited to finally get a few beets:@) And learned you need to plant more than you think you do, and expect to let them grow for most of the season to get to any decent size. For some reason I thought they'd be ready to eat in June, not so much. I did enjoy adding the beet greens to salads throughout the summer though. Ma says they would sauté them and eat them like spinach when she was a kid. I hope to try that next year. Note for myself: 3/9/25 planted spinach, beets, and radish seeds.

All of these pics are from throughout the summer, so plants are various sizes. If you look closely, there is a black butterfly on one of the bottom zinnias. 

Tomatoes didn't get as tall this year, and a strong wind bent most of the vines over. As previously mentioned, they were a good three weeks later to ripen than last year. In addition to what you see there were planters of string beans and I had a good spring for radishes. Fall radishes, some turnips and another attempt at beets are growing now.

I've never planted Alyssum before, tried it in the strawberry planter. It grew well and I was amused at the way the white was dominant in spring, and by end of season it was mostly purple. 

Cherry tomatoes on this side, they grew well and I ended up with plenty to share:@) Cucumbers and zucchini were strong for a couple weeks, but made early departures. 

Peppers are starting to turn colors now.

Labor Day Weekend garden... Those crazy tall light purple flowers are Cosmos. The pack of seeds said they'd grow 2' tall-yea x 4. They got so tall I couldn't even dead head the flowers. New cement bird bath, clean and simple look, I love it:@) Coleus on the near end was -very- happy this year. 

Overall, it was another good year for the Pig In Mud garden:@) And as always, it gave me lots to think about for next year. My biggest challenge: The township forced us to use their trash cans now, I can only get so much into it (instead of throwing two bags on the curb as I've done forever). I have a feeling I'll be scaling back quite a bit. Especially the tomatoes. My coworkers are already disappointed... Oh well, we will see. 

I hope you all had a great summer!

Have a Happy Day:@)