... But the garden still looks alright. I don't think I'd be lying if I said that I've taken maybe 40-50 pounds of tomatoes from the garden. We've had a couple of good sauces, a pizza night with fresh tomatoes, lots of salads, a few grilled cheeses with tomatoes, and I took a bunch up to Maine this past weekend for the family.

The fingerling potatoes are looking good also. I've harvested two batches of those - one I took to Maine, and they were totally consumed, roasted whole with some oil. The second batch was larger and is still kicking around here. All told, we're going to be eating potatoes for awhile.

The cukes are finally ready to be picked, and maybe I'll make pickles in the next few days for fun. There are a few peppers to pick, and if things stay warm enough, we'll get some late beans. I'm toying with building a cold frame, but that will only happen in a perfect world.

Other than the completely experimental brussels sprouts (which are doomed to fail) and some broccoli, that leaves nothing except for the onions and shallots. Neither are going to be great successes, but I'm really looking forward to trying again next year...

This week's Garden Pics.

Tomatoes are growing like mad, as you can see. The potatoes are a mess, but still growing, we'll see how they turn out. The brussells sprouts seem to have survived. Onions and shallots are growing, although there is a critter out there that likes to eat them. Broccoli is up, the beans are shooting up their supports, and the cukes are doing quite well also.

(... almost posted on wifi from the garden, except that it got cloudy so i moved the laptop inside).

The garden continues to grow. Carrots have been slow but seem to be harvestable now. The soybean plants have beans on them - they look incredibly weird - wicked fuzzy. Tomatoes are out of control - I've got a few plants that are close to 6' tall right now, and they'd be taller if they could be. All sorts of fruit on them.

The potatoes are flowering and growing - I needed to corral them with some chicken wire.

I've got three pepper plants, and they're all coming along. One of them is too shaded to amount to much, but they all have some little peppers on them.

Herbs have been disapointing - next year I'm planting them in a container of some sort to make weeding a non-issue.

Planted recently:

Cucumbers - both for eating and pickling - these are coming along nicely.
Brussels Sprouts - they've germinated, and are growing slowly but surely.
Pole Beans - planted some today, let's see if they survive the summer.
Broccoli - also planted today.

(pictures to follow)...

So, the peas are basically done now. I just picked a fairly decent shirtful of them, and will be eating them tonight at Tanglewood while we watch Garrison Keillor. Overall, they were disappointing - it's all because I didn't plan for them to be as tall as they were. Next year I'm going back to the teepee. One of the fun things about gardening is planning for next year before this year is even remotely finished. I love the longevity of that...

There's not a lot growing out there that will be edible any time soon. The carrots seem to be very slow. They're just starting to grow little root veggies now. They may be packed in too tightly but I don't think so.

The scallions are looking alright. Cilantro and dill are doing well. I just planted an oregano seedling about two days ago, and there is some growing from seed, along with basil and mint. The shallots and onions seem to be doing okay, but I seem to lose a plant every now and then - it just disappears. I think the cats are eating them or something.

The potatoes seem to be doing great. I went out this morning to check on things, and they are flowering like crazy. They had some flowers on a few plants about a week or two ago, but they disappeared and that was it.

TOMATO UPDATE: The tomatoes are doing very well. I've got a few plants that are growing out of control and need to be staked better. There is fruit on at least one plant (I will check more later). Overall, given the debacle of the plants I got in the mail keeling over and dying, I'm pretty happy.

Peppers are also doing well - I love the little teeny peppers growing on them.

I planted cukes and brussels sprouts last Sunday (6/27) - the BS are the ultimate gardening experiment this year, and I'm curious to see how they do - hopefully they aren't planted too late. I planted squash about three days ago - both butternut and another kind (delicata? i'll look at the packet later). Melons will go in soon, along with summer greens, and that will be it for awhile.

Thinking about the future: OK, it's early, but thinking ahead - things to do next year:
- teepee for peas
- wider rows for taters and other crazy things
- either cage the tomatoes or do something that will hold them up

Next year, plant taller lattices for the peas. They grew so tall that they flipped over and are almost touching the ground. I propped them up a bit, but I hope they're harvestable soon.