Posting Statistics

 I thought this was interesting. My posts per year over 14 years! I started out super enthusiastic over the first couple years, then dropped off quite dramatically. But this year figures to be the biggest year since 2011. Projected number of posts for 2022 based on how many posts I had up until July in the past.

Posts per year since 2009

Some Interesting Growth

The beans out front are starting to flower. Very pretty, and hopefully beans soon.
The beans out back, not to be outdone, are climbing up the chicken wire trellis. The little twining tendril is about a foot and a half long. They spend most of their time trying to outgrow the kale in front of them, which is doing very well.
The Spoon Tomatoes out back seem very happy with their setup. I think they may not provide too much in the way of actual poundage of veg, but I do think they will be kind of fun.

The cuke patch does not look too happy. I suspect I didn't water quite enough for their liking. I did mulch with grass clippings which will help with water retention. And there is new growth that seems a bit happier.

The zucchino rampicante seems to be flourishing. 

OMG a cucumber! Ok, admittedly not quite salad/pickle sized. But it is there!

And another peek at the main tomato patches. Looking good! Maybe it would be wise to prune a bit more to free up the air flow around this jungle a bit. I don't think I will be that aggressive though.

Some Eatin'

 Couple dishes recently featuring produce from the garden.

Kale and garlic from the garden with red onion, eggs, and ham.

Zucchini rounds with cheese

Zucchini Bounty

 First zucchini harvest was July 1st. Since then, over four days have harvested 7.9 lbs total! I do love my early season zucchini bounty. I will be sad when the vine borers inevitably take them out. But wait! I have a bit of a solution. This year I have four zucchino rampicante sprouted and growing, hopefully by the time the regular zucchini (Fordhook, Black Beauty) go south the rampicantes will grab the baton and keep me supplied.

The zucchini patch

Yum

Grow you lil rampicantes!

Beans are doing great. Have not been victimized by deer yet. Is it just a matter of time? Am I a fool for not working on countermeasures immediately? Can you see the little flowers?

Beans

These guys are one of the Cherokee Purples. They look good! The other one looks like it has a severe case of blossom end rot. I guess I'm not watering enough. I mulched a bunch this weekend, hopefully that will help.

The King of Delicious Tomatoes

This one is allegedly Beefsteak. Yeah, this is clearly not Beefsteak. I don't know what it is, but I like the productivity.

I dunno!

Update on the back containers. They seem to be getting bigger and lusher every day.

Containers

Garlic Tips

 Watching a lot of gardening videos lately. This one ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWqgRhVDK4g ) had 10 tips for bigger garlic bulbs. My garlic did kinda meh this year, so maybe this might help.

1) Spacing - 6" apart - mine might be a little closer, maybe 4.

2) Depth - 2" - Maybe a little deeper?

3) Rich soil, maybe compost - I feel like my soil is not too rich. I will try some compost, particularly around the cloves when I plant.

4) Fertilize - Low N fertilizer - I don't really fertilize!

5) Hardneck vs Softneck - Hardneck better for my climate

6) Don't plant small cloves - I do a good job on this one\

7) Weed - The diligence of my weeding, it, uh, varies.

8) Cut the scapes - CHECK!

9) Plant cloves right side up - CHECK!

10) Plant around Halloween - CHECK!

Weedin'

 A bountiful kale harvest?

Nah, I just weeded the cucumber patch. Grew kale there last year. I stand by my theory that kale is a weed.

Cucumber Trauma

 The big news is giant rats (aka deer) came out of the woods, strolled down to my driveway, and pretty much ate half the foliage of my cucumbers.

Evidence

Maybe it was more than half :-(

I've taken some weak measures to keep them away - put up some string and a couple tomato cages to make it a bit more awkward for them. No further devastation last night. Maybe I had them planted too thickly. Maybe the deer-pruning will actually help them? *sigh*

Zucchini is getting very close to getting picked!

Zucchini numero uno

Didn't even notice the dead rotting leaf below it or the small weed beside it. So I could be doing things better here clearly. You can see the broken off stem slightly to the left and under it. That leaf was yellowing so I ruthlessly pruned. This years garden theme is pruning!

Zucchino rampicante coming up!

Peppers and Spoon tomatoes coming along nicely!

Roots from a tomato cutting. No real intention of growing this, just wanted to see how it would do if I just set it in a glass with water.