Lotsa garden pics

Finally, after two weeks of doing nothing in the garden because of rain and mud and more rain and mud, finally I was able to spend a few hours this afternoon mowing and hoeing.  The weeds had gotten to the point where a scythe would have been handy.  There still are quite a few left, but it looks a whole lot better than it did.

So, without further ado, here is what is growing in my garden.

Broccoli, and lots of it!  I probably have about twenty broccoli plants.  I'm going to try to freeze quite a bit of it this summer.

A few pumpkins for the boys come Halloween time.

Yellow crookneck, round French, sebring and black beauty summer squash.  Yeah, I know, that's a lot of squash.  The tiny plant in the front is a round French and the ginormous ones behind it are black beauty.  They are obviously much larger than any of the other varieties.  Also, they are the only ones not already affected by some downy mildew.  Next year, I will only plant black beauty.  Probably.

Cucumbers.  Miniature white variety.

Hubby helped me put up a trellis (cattle panels, of course) for the cucumbers.  The sunflowers on the end of the bed get to enjoy the trellis too.

Pole beans in the fore-foreground, basil in the fore-midground, beets in the back-midground, and garlic in the back-background.

The pole beans are Fortrex variety.  They are starting to climb already.  The tallest is about three feet high.  I also have some yellow wax bush beans planted.

Here are scarlet runner beans at the base of my archway.

I planted a 4'x12' bed of Little Marvel shell peas.  The pods on these are just starting to fill out.  My snap peas matured faster than the shell, and we've been harvesting those for a couple of weeks now.

Rainbow Swiss chard.  I have about ten of these plants.

Hale's best cantaloupe.  The boys insisted I grow these again.  I'll try to do a better job of judging ripeness this year, and elevate the fruit off the ground so the bugs don't get them.

Here's a long shot showing a few chard in front, followed by a couple of cabbage, followed by some broccoli, followed by Brussels sprouts, followed by a lot of cabbage.  Pole beans and more broccoli to the right.

The tomatoes are doing well.  No signs of blight so far.  Knock on lots of wood.  I planted San Marzano, mortgage lifter, striped German, celebrity and large red cherry.  Thirty-four plants total.

 Cayenne, California wonder, alma paprika and jalapeno peppers.  Marigolds in front.

My golden raspberries are having to share their space with volunteer dill.  I didn't get around to planting dill this spring, so I'm letting these volunteers grow.

A few Hansel and fairy tale eggplant

Lots of cosmos, some planted but most volunteer.  I know now not to bother starting any seed indoors.  They are serious self-seeders!

For the past few weeks our yard has been FILLED with these blue damselflies.  They are literally everywhere.  I attribute it to the fact that we have lots of tall grass around our yard.  You won't see these beauties on a manicured, sprayed lawn.  Other than being lovely to look at, these guys eat tons of insects including flies, gnats and mosquitoes.  They are magical to watch.

I'm growing two varieties of Brussels sprouts this year, a few red Falstaff I started from seed and some Jade Cross I bought at a nursery.  The red Falstaff stem is on the right.

After a few hours in the garden, Benjimouse came outside to help pull weeds.  He lasted about two minutes.  Mostly he just wanted to play swords with wooden stakes, drink my lemonade and take some pictures.  

I so enjoyed working in the garden today.  Yes, it is still a weedy mess, but thanks to the rain (the neverending rain) everything is lush and green.  Hopefully tomorrow afternoon will be as lovely as this one, and I can continue plugging away at it.

Yeah, I may not be looking the best after four hours in the sun and the dirt, but believe me, I'm feeling pretty darn good.