Mid-season garden...

The weatherman dropped a small bomb this evening: Summer is officially half over. We are Mid-summer. It's been a bad dream for a lot of gardens. Our area is close to an official drought. Less than 1/4 inch of rain since May. And only a very short week of "normal" temps, in the 80s daytime and 60s night. Tonight it is going to struggle to stay at 49 degrees. And barely 60 during the day tomorrow.

Let me just say, the basil and tomatoes are NOT happy.

On the other hand, the lettuce tribe and other greens are perking along. It's a matter of keeping some water on them...

In spite of the lack of rain, and having strong winds scouring across the fields, the garden still manages to turn into a jungle. I haven't been too concerned about a weed-free garden, so many of the so-called weeds are edible and drought tolerant, we may as well let them grow and just eat THEM!
Here are a few of the experiments and demo gardens. Sugar snap peas are doing well, gotta get them in the freezer now. But the cucs are struggling to get big enough to climb the frame. There are baby cucumbers, though, so hope abounds. That's probably the favorite veg for the punks. The salad garden is over-producing, the usual problem with lettuce and radishes.

The squash are FINALLY showing signs of production. This Yellow Summer squash is in a tire - one of the experiments.

And here's one of the tomato ladders. This is actually working, so far so good. This bunch are Rutgers, a good canning tomato. Got some green tennis-ball size 'maters on a few plants.

Ah - the stars of the garden: PEAS. These are Green Arrow, a variety that does well here. We're hoping to put some in the freezer this year, if we can keep Carrie out of them... she requested a LOT of peas this time, so two forty-foot double rows ought to keep her happy.

And it wouldn't be a garden without zuchinni. Look! A little feller has made the team - soon to be joined by the rest of his buddies. Only four plants this year. Didn't want to repeat the glut from five plants, like last year...

I hope your garden is thriving and giving you good things to eat during this all-too-short season.

If all else fails - eat the "weeds".

And yes. Yes, the bugs have arrived. Cucumber beetles and potato bugs. At least I think that's what they are. It's not only a jungle, it's a WAR ZONE.