So the garden obituary was a little premature:

I’ve actually had to cut down the tomato plants several times because they were getting too big.  My wonderful neighbors, a couple in their 70s and avid gardeners, counseled me that my plants were putting too much into green growth and not enough into fruit, so I lopped off branches and branches.  And now look at them!

Nothing red yet, but there’s still time.  My neighbors tell me their tomatoes are slow to come in this year, too.

I couldn’t believe how much the cucumber grew in just two weeks.  It covers the trellis now!

July 15

July 29

And there’s flowers, carrots, and an eggplant just waiting to fruit.

I also love the deep purple color of these beans.  Apparently they cook up green just like regular ones.

The peas had done their job and were exceptionally delicious.  I’ve replanted in hopes of a fall harvest.  I also tried putting in some brussels sprouts seeds where the dead tomato plant was and have reseeded the center of the trellis with spinach.  The irrigation is a bit tough to manage with the new seeds.  I can’t just have them get drenched three times a week like the bigger plants, so I’ve capped off those drips and am hand watering daily until they sprout.  The bush beans in the front are almost done, too, and I plan on planting broccoli seed there.

A few things already for next year–I’m definitely putting in many many more peas.  They were so tasty but not enough.  I’m also going to buy larger plants for the things that take a longer time to grow.  And more lettuce–I’ve been harvesting once a week, but twice weekly would be better.  I’m going to try and plant cold-hardy plants to overwinter for early spring fruit once the tomatoes and cucumbers and such are gone and plant some other ground cover in the other areas to add organic material and to prevent having brown dirt all winter.  Another option would be to allow some of the fruit to fall and just mulch over it to see if anything comes up on its own in the spring.

Also, the pole beans are clearly not “trellis beans” but pole beans.  The plants sought out anything round and wound themselves around it and laughed at my attempts to train them along the horizontal trellis wires.

Hopefully there will be some red and yellow tomatoes in the next installment!