Thunderstorms...

Why can't I get supports for the tomato plants that don't fall over during thunderstorms? Happens every year.

Doesn't help that the hard soil about 8" down tends to bend the ends as I try to push them in.

The squash took over

Last year I let some volunteer ornamental squash grow over the pachysandra. My reward was a bunch of nice new ornamental squash that helped decorate the sukkah. So when I saw a couple of plants growing in similar places, I thought, why not?

So I found out why not. These things grew like crazy. So this evening I went out and hacked a bunch of them away to make room for peas and kholrabi and things. Don't worry---I left plenty (although I might well have fatally trimmed the plants, who knows).

Keeping ahead of the mildew

I sprayed the zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes once again. The tomatoes don't get the powdery mildew, but they do get early blight. The same spray is supposed to work against both.

In fact, I think I'm barely keeping ahead of the mildew. It is still spreading, but not as fast (I hope) as the new growth on the cucumbers and zucchini. The cucumbers keep producing, at least. The zucchini, not so much. I'm not sure that's a mildew problem, however. I just don't see a lot of zucchini flowers.

It will be time to plant the peas soon. Not sure how I am going to do this with the heat. I suppose I'll have to do it in the evening.

Tomatoes at last

I guess tomatoes are the basic vegetable. If somebody grows one thing, it will likely be tomatoes. If that is true, ripe tomatoes must be the basic sign of a successful garden.

Every year I wait for what seems to be a very long time until the tomatoes ripen. I finally picked the first one the other day. Success! It seems like it took longer this year than in the past. But it always seems that way.

Cucmbers, cucumbers and some more on rabbits

The cucumbers are producing, one or two a day. I used eight of them to make sweet pickles, but I've already picked three or four since then. This is good. I think. The problem, of course, is that I either get nothing or a lot. There is just no way to plan to get a cucumber each day just when we need it for the salad.

The rabbits have discovered the garden gates, it seems, and have made a couple of holes under them. I've blocked them, and so far it seems to have worked. Before I found them, however, the rabbits got to a couple of cucumbers that were growing on the ground. They can't get to the ones that are up six or twelve inches, however.

Tomatoes still aren't ripe...except for the cherry tomatoes. And a few zucchini are growing.

I've been spraying to dry to stop the powdery mildew, but it's not clear yet if I've succeeded. At least the plants aren't dead.

Yet Another Garden Problem

At least it was easy to identify. It is powdery mildew and it is all over the zucchini plants. Aargh!!! Turns out this stuff I bought for the tomato early blight is also supposed to help against it, so now I've sprayed the plants.

But why am I suddenly learning so much about plant diseases and pests? I would have preferred ignorance.