stall....stall.... TAKE OFF!

Holy cow, the garden is going nuts. If you remember from previous posts, everything stalled on us. I didn't think anything would EVER grow. It just kept staying the same size week after week. Even the same watermelon transplants I grew were vining in Grandpa's garden while not growing an inch in mine. Organic fertilizer seemed to get them moving a little but lately, it's a jungle out there! I'm excited and terrified at the same time. We are going to be buried under piles of peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers. We have at least 15 tomato plants and over 10 pepper plants. Better start freezer shopping. Anyhow, here are some photos of the excitement!

 Lettuce I planted a few weeks ago is getting bigger! It's growing in partial shade since lettuce tolerates that.

 Ben's started an irrigation system for the garden that he will finish next year. I can't wait until we don't have to drag a big heavy hose all around!

Corn and squash. My pumpkins are wilty. I hope it's just a water needing problem. I did give them some water and crossed my fingers...

 One of the boxes of tomatoes. A lot of Matt's Cherry Tomatoes in here and a few San Marzanos.

 Melon bed that finally took off! I think it is 10 feet across by 18 feet.

 One of the first melons!! This is either a honeyrock or a french melon. Guess we'll have to wait and see what it turns out to be. I suppose it could be a watermelon. Who knows what anything is now that vines are criss-crossing each other.

 These boxes had Alpine Strawberries torn out of them. I tried them three different times and just didn't like them. Plus, they put out very little fruit for the space they took up. Ben mixed manure/humus blend into the beds and they have been planted with beet greens, carrots, and radishes. I also planted fall peas in the other garden.  Oh, that is a melon vine creeping into the box. Did I mention that vines are EVERYWHERE? =)

 Pole beans are growing well.

 

The first cuke of the season!!! I'm so excited. It's been picked, washed, and is sitting in the crisper ready to eat! This is a Marketmore 76 unless it's a pickling cuke. Hard to tell -- vines are everywhere.

 Costata Romanesco zucchinis. Can you see it? Look at the green stemy thing with a flower about to blossom on the end -- that's the zucchini. This is a weird plant that doesn't really vine. We call it the killer zucchini plant because, well, see for yourself below...

 Isn't that thing HUGE? It shades out it's neighbors and it makes me crazy.

 One of the six bell peppers I've seen. They will eventually turn red.  This is a transplant I bought and planted along the front fence of the garden.

 Two rows of pepper in this box, with basil planted along the front and side of the box.

 ANOTHER box of tomatoes. =)

 Freshly harvested broccoli. Since it's been so hot, they've started to go to flower so we had to harvest all the heads. We've already started more plants indoors to transplant for a fall harvest.