For Travis

Warning: This blog post is picture heavy and maybe not all that interesting to anyone but Travis and me.  I'm mostly posting it so that Travis, who has been away from our garden for a month, can see how it is doing.  Please feel free to skip this if you want.  (Except you, Travis.  You must continue on to the end, seeing as how I'm doing this for you.)

Here's the front flower bed.  See how nicely it is filling out?  There are still a coupla bare spots, but they are much, much fewer.  So pretty!

And here's the main garden sans broccoli.  It's amazing how much more bare it looks.  (Esp. since it doesn't look all that bare.)  There are just 6 very large plants… missing. 

Here's the yellow squash.  It's doing a bit better since last you saw it, isn't it?

Here's one of the pepper plants.  You can't really tell since I don't have great photographing skills and the light was awful and I photographing green on green here, but there were probably at least 8 peppers on this plant.  Maybe up to 12, but I think I picked some before I took the picture cuz I'm smart like that.

This picture is sideways, but I don't care enough to fix it.  (Blogger, I'd love if you let me rotate in here!)  But look how huge the zinnia plant is!  I love it! 

Also this Zinnia plant.  (Also sideways)  You can't tell as much cuz it's all one color, but it is also huge. 

Here is the zucchini plant that is taking over the garden.  The lettuce and spinach were on the squares on the right.  The broccoli and cauliflower were on the bottom left.  See why I don't think we should plant anything there for fall?  Also note the very sad state of the calendulas. I had just dead headed them.  Sadly, that made them look better.  Yes, this photo is better than what they looked like a little before.

See?  They moved the hammock.  See how I get no shade in the morning anymore?  [sigh]  You can also kind of see some of the weeds and dead grass off to the right.  (Not the strip of dead stuff in the middle that is your fault, but off to the right.)

Icky broadleaf weeds!  They're taking over!  Also, they're much bigger now.  And… I still haven't done anything about them.  Sorry! 

Ah.  Here you can see the patch of dead grass. 

These are the broadleaf weeds taking over your yard.  They've since bloomed.  They kinda look like dandelions.

Here's what your front room looked like the day they delivered the wood.  Have they installed the wood floors yet?  I didn't go over there today. 

And here is all the mail that fit into your mailbox because your silly roommates forgot they were supposed to check the mail.  It looks like less since I put the plants and all the other junk from the front room on the table.  Still.  So much paper for one tiny mailbox.

Here's the forest that is slowly creeping upon your driveway.  I think I was wrong about it coming from your neighbor's yard.  I think it's coming up from the crack between the fence and the driveway.  There's more off to the left on the other fence, butI didn't take a picture of that.

Back garden!  (Yeah, really bad time of day for these pictures.  So much hard shadow!)  See how the tomatoes are taking over the world?  You have to kind of duck off to the side to get past them on the path.

Ok, seriously.  What's up with these black eyed susans?  Do you see how the black of the center is bleeding out into the pedals?  I've looked and of the many black eyed susans I've seen elsewhere, these are the only ones I've ever seen bleed.

Oooh!  The cantaloupe is getting its netting!  I'm so excited!!!

Pumpkin #1 that is the biggest and the most orange.  Despite what the next picture looks like.

Pumpkin #2.  It's smaller.  It'll probably taste better.  (Sorry, it probably won't make a good jack o'lantern unless it's just a painted one.  But that's ok.  It'll make a tastier pie.)

Pumpkin #3.  It's about the same size as #2.  And that's more like what the color of #2 is like.  #2 is more orange than this one, but not nearly as orange as it looks like in the picture.

Tada!  The composter!  Also, see how far the pumpkin vine has grown?  It's ridiculous.  I've actually turned it since taking this picture and it's growing back under the composter. 

Cucumbers!  Seriously.  I hope you are hungry for cucumbers when you get home.  I picked five on Monday.  Two were the length of my forearm.  There are more that still need to be picked that are huge.  I still haven't eaten the first 5.

The beans and cucumbers have far outreached the top of the vine.  (Also, we finally have baby beans on the bean vine.)

The asparagus has definitely gone to seed.

Here is the mass of cantaloupe vine.  You can see the artichoke and raspberry plants poking up through it if you know what to look for.

  

Taken from a bit further back.  You can see the mass of green that is the pumpkin, cantaloup, artichoke, raspberry, and strawberry.  See how big the strawberry plant is?  (Also, one of the other strawberry plants is growing strawberries right now!  They'll probably be ripe by the time you get here.  Hopefully they don't ripen before that, cuz I might be too tempted to eat them if they do.)

Flower bed in back.  The bleeding heart isn't loving life right now.  Half of it is dead.  Also, the light makes them all look bad.  But they're not really all that bad.  The hostas have flowers!  And they're pretty!  But… the flower bed isn't doing great, either.

The hollyhock.  With the snapdragons bleached out by the sun.  Thanks, Mr. Sun.  (I guess I could've probably closed the gate for this one.  Oh well.  Live and learn.)  Oh, and the tall weed between them I pulled yesterday.  So ignore that. 

And… that's all!  Oh, btw, I planted the lettuce and spinach yesterday.  I need to get Casey to change the sprinklers there from the drip to the 360 spray.  I was gonna leave him a note and forgot.  There are three squares still open next to the yellow squash.  We can definitely get broccoli from Cook's and Linden hopes to have broccoli and cabbage starts by the end of the month (but will that be too late?) and Vineyard doesn't have fall starts at all.  Alas.  So mebbe I'll go get some broccoli to plant.  [shudder]  What I don't do for you...