Garden Update

Here's a garden update, especially for those in Uncle Larry's Garden Club, my father-in-law, and Uncle Gary.

Here's the garden from the back.

Everything is going pretty well and (thanks to Mom Platt who helped me plant during her visit a few weeks ago) at least all my seeds are in the ground. The dogs are also doing their job chasing bunnies away. Mattie actually caught and killed one last week. (Which I admit was sad, but probably good for the garden.)

Here's an update of everything that I (attempted) to grow, the status, and some photos. I took these pics this evening after coming back from a long weekend away. The weeds were under control when I left, but came back in force during my absence. I'm slightly embarrassed by the apparent weeds, though I'm sure that all fellow gardeners will understand. We had thunderstorms today, so it was too wet to weed tonight, but I'll be fighting back once things dry up.

Strawberries are just starting to ripen. The apples are starting to form as are the raspberries. Grapes: Looking great! Brian plans on making wine this fall.

Corn: Had some germination issues and cut my losses. This is Iowa, after all. Sweet corn is readily available, so I took the space where I had planted the corn and added additional squash. There are still 7 corn plants growing. Brian is hoping to get at least one ear. Need to do some additional research (or be more patient) next year.

Chives: Nice! These were here when we arrived...as was the asparagus. We'd stopped cutting the asparagus for the season and are letting it go to seed. My snap peas are strong and healthy. They are a bit behind Uncle Larry's, but are at the point where they need to be staked up. I'm hoping to get that done in the next couple of days. Seeing photos of what you do for your peas was inspirational. Thanks! I didn't really know where to start... The bush beans aren't doing quite as well as the peas. We've had a lot of rain recently, and I'm hoping that's why some of the leaves are slightly yellow. Thoughts?

The same thing is happening to my peppers. HELP!The lettuce was a real success story. Looks and tastes fantastic! I have 8 hills of cucumbers (3 different varieties). All are doing well. In addition, my summer squash, zucchini, and winter squashes (Hubbard, butternut, and acorn) are also about this size. My watermelon and cantaloupe just started coming up this week, along with my pumpkins. These pictured below are watermelon, but my cantaloupes and 3 varieties of pumpkins are the same size (and look pretty much the same). I had to forgo planting my decorative gourds because I didn't have enough space in the garden, was afraid of cross-pollination, and Brian said I couldn't extend the garden into his lawn. I need to find a place for my gourds next year. Tomatoes *sigh* are a little behind. Here's my largest- a yellow pear plant. I have about 15 plants in the ground- 6 varieties. As some of you might remember, I started most of my plants from seeds in a starter box. Well, some evil milkweed plants grew in the box along with my tomatoes. Young milkweed plants look an awful lot like tomatoes, so I have a half dozen milkweeds that got special treatment. At this point I have sorted all of them out and ripped out and disposed of the milkweeds. The tomatoes aren't doing so well with all the rain we'd had, but I'm hopeful that things will dry up this week. I have a few more plants to transplant from my starter box to replace the milkweeds that made it into my garden. Tomatillos are going well. Does anyone know if this is a vine or bush plant? Becky? Cabbage (8-10 plants). Growing well. I started these in my starter box and ended up with more plants than I could use. Cauliflower, same story as the cabbage. Beets are great- all three kinds. This plant I'm not sure of. I didn't label my seed box quite as well as I should have (lesson learned). I think that it is Romanesco, but I'm not 100% sure. I have 10 of them that I (Mom, actually), transplanted from the starter box.
Sweet potatoes. Ordered small plants from a seed catalog. They didn't make it.

Tabasco peppers. Same story as the sweet potatoes, though I have one that's still holding on.

I'm sure that I planted onions, but they haven't yet made an appearance (or at least I can't tell them apart from my beets). With all the wind here it is impossible to mark rows. Next year I need to not only make a chart of where I would like to plant, but where I actually end up planting everything.

The garlic looks good (pictured), as do my parsley, dill, mint, and basil.

I haven't yet done any fertilizing. I would prefer not to, but does anyone have an opinion about my tomatoes? They're really the only plants that I'm truly worries about!