Not the Problem I'd Thought I'd Have

When I wrote my last post about gardening at the end of May, I was astonished at how fast things were growing and also wondering if I should not be getting so excited since that might have been as good as it got. Well, apparently rainy and cool weather paired with a little tomato food, peat moss, and cow manure does a garden well. I don't think I even hand-watered my garden once in the month of June, because we had so much rain.

Now I'm starting to wonder if I over-planted. I had to invest in some bamboo stakes and sturdy stretch tie to rein in the zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Someone with much more gardening wisdom than I told me that corn should be knee-high by the Fourth of July. Even if I'm standing on the same level, that's more like shoulder-high.

July 14, 2013

Here are some monsters that we pulled out today. Good thing I decided to water today or I might not have seen them.

The Three Amigos

Among all of the gazillions of green tomatoes, Caden spotted an orange one.

Which one of these is not like the other ones?

Again, really not the problem I thought I'd have in my rookie year. Three lessons I've learned for next year:

1. Stake the tomatoes at time of planting (apparently this is common knowledge among the more experienced). I had no idea that bush variety tomatoes would grow this tall. 
2. A "bush" variety is not the same as a "dwarf" variety.
3. Apparently a zucchini plant -- even just one -- needs more than 4 squares. I had to cage it up, because it was shading my peppers and reaching into the corn. Perhaps it warrants its own special container. Same for the cukes.