Garden Growth

This was actually a week ago now that I'm finally getting to these pictures. The green is exploding-- I swear everything grows so fast you could probably watch it. It would be interesting to take a photo from the same spot every day and see the changes.

Here's a little garden tour, left to right. 

The pumpkin patch is filling out. Unfortunately, it's also dwindling. I noticed a few leaves turning yellow last week and thought it was lack of water, but no, it's the dreaded squash bugs!!! I have since killed handfuls of the parent bugs, nymphs, and eggs, but I'm still losing the battle. I am so sad. Dang those ornery bugs! I had such high hopes for great big pumpkins this year, but we'll be lucky to get a few small ones.

The giant sunflowers are getting tall, passing up the garden posts they grow between. A few are setting flowers.

The butternut squash is spreading, but again, they have grown so much since I took this picture! I might have to pull out a grouping of zucchini to give them room, which I won't cry about because I have 8 medium zucchini on my counter right now and I already made bread and cookies with it!
 

The tomatoes are setting fruit, finally. I am a bit behind since I grew them from seed, but I'm proud they've turned out so well. A few days after this picture I thinned and staked the indeterminate variety on the right, and this is what it looks like now:

My neighbor taught me this technique, and I'm excited to see how it goes! We put in three metal stakes, and then ran metal wire between on both sides to make a trellis. I am pinching the side sprouts off as they develop, so each will only grow one long central stalk. As they get taller I will run more wire to trellis them. This way they won't be a matted jungle, and hopefully I can harvest them easier.
 

 

The greens beans are prolific and we are eating them about every other day.

Same with the broccoli. This variety was supposed to develop 6-8 inch heads, but the biggest I've seen was maybe 5 inches. We have enough plants though that harvesting even all the little side shoots has kept us eating broccoli a few times a week.

Sadly the carrots (left of the broccoli) have been picked too young by lots of children. About a third of the row is gone. It's so hard to explain to kids that if they just wait, things will get bigger and better! 

The spinach and lettuce are done, but I am already looking forward to replanting a fall crop. The kale is going strong and I've been harvesting bagfuls for freezing--and not made a dent!

The peppers and potatoes are doing well, although I don't know when to harvest the potatoes. I need to look that one up, since I've never grown them! The melons are going crazy and we've spotted about 5 mini watermelons!

The corn is a huge disappointment. I learned my lesson--don't underwater!! I have been trying to water the garden less this year because I naturally tend to overwater, but the corn is on the end of the drip system and gets less pressure anyway, and it is suffering! After our first year of corn being a bumper crop (hundreds of ears!) I am so sad with my lost crop. Hopefully the last few rows that weren't stressed yet will prosper and make up for it a little. Failure is so hard to swallow!

Lastly, here's a picture from the same spot I took one a month ago.. the change is amazing!