Prairie Path Garden Plot #204

{the middle}

 well, this is our "window" box, but it still counts

Summer exploded our little garden plot.  One day we had these little plants and tiny seedlings that we worried about with every gust of wind, the next day we have a jungle.  Seriously.  The tomato plants are bigger than I am.  Note to self: pinch out the runners on your tomato plants next year.

There are so many ways and opinions about growing tomatoes that it was a little difficult deciding which way to follow.  I bought 4 foot cages for my plants, thinking that would be plenty of space.  A few weeks later, my cages are falling over as my at-least-six-foot plants expand like mad.  I still think caging is a good idea if you're only growing a few plants, but trim them back!  We probably will get a smaller harvest than we could have because I allowed the plants to split energy between vine growth and fruit ripening.  In the long run, this was probably a good thing for us though since we are already overwhelmed with the tomatoes coming through our farm shares.

The sunflowers are great (and provided my lovely banner picture) and totally an accident.  I planted a little square of "Save the Bees" mix in a corner of our plot, having no good idea what was in the mix.  Had I know, I would have planted them so they didn't shade the whole garden plot!  Sunflowers are also huge.  This just blows my mind ... I put a tiny seed in the ground in May (or a tiny tomato plant) and in just a few weeks, it grows 6 feet.  Insanity.

Not everything took off with the height of summer.  The bell pepper plant has been doing just about nothing.  And while the cucumbers took off, so did the cucumber beetles.  Our infestation was so bad that I cut all of the vines off at the root and let them dry out and we got one little lemon cucumber before it's early end.  I hate cucumber beetles.

Carrots, lettuce, jalapenos, basil, parsley, beans, mustard and turnip greens, tomatoes, (1) cucumber.  I also attempted some cold season planting, but was not diligent with watering, so we may be nearing the end of our harvest season now ...