It's a Jungle Out There!

I can hardly imagine what these raised beds and the aisles between them will look like by the end of the growing season. Already I can hardly walk down most of the aisles and a few are completely blocked by rampant tomato plants. Too much fertilizer? Radioactive compost that I bought from a city north of us? You'd never know by looking at my yard or house, but I actually like things neat and my gardens are definitely getting 'not neat'. And I didn't even plant as close as 'Mel' advises in the Square Foot Gardening book...
Oh well. I guess I'll keep on gardening anyways and just make a different plan for next year.

The back of the trellises are growing sunflowers, pumpkins, and melons. The pumpkins are growing the largest and the best. I'm glad to see the sunflowers topping the tomato plants finally.

The mystery plant that grew in the compost is a mystery no more.

It's an ornamental gourd plant, and doing quite well. I guess I'll keep it even though I was hoping for some kind of cantaloupe.

This one won't be a mystery. It is a small cantaloupe called 'Tigger'. The only mystery will be how it tastes since it's new to me.

The 'melon bed' with watermelons and pumpkins, also a few peppers and the Rat's Tail Radish that just continues to grow and produce flowers. Oh, also parsley, some marigolds, and onions.

The cabbage - broccoli bed. I harvested the broccoli and most of the cabbages. The caraflex cabbages made wonderful coleslaw - very creamy and mellow tasting. Growing here still are some purple cabbages, chard, onions, and 2 marigolds. And also one cauliflower, but it's a bit buggy. The cabbage worms are actively eating whatever they can get.

The squash bed has zucchini and KamoKamo, which was growing way out the sides - very viney - so we put up a trellis today, but no pictures yet. It will help keep the squash contained, I hope. The zucchini seems to be confused. The male and female flowers can't seem to bloom at the same times so my little zucchinis don't grow. They just die. I can't even pollinate them by hand since they aren't in bloom at the right times. I have been seeing more bees lately though.

The herb bed, which also has beets, chard, cabbage, yarrow, and cauliflower.

Dew drops every morning on the melon leaves.

Mini-bell peppers. Very cute, but I won't grow them again. They are very prolific, but just too small. What was I thinking?

Teaspoon is also very small- about the size of an average marble. My first ripe tomato for this season. Barely a taste but very cute and flavorful. You can use the viola (not pansy) for size comparison. These I would grow again just because they are interesting, and I am enjoying them as a hanging plant right by the front door.

This is Cabin - listed by Wintersown as rare. In the Earthbox and also in the raised bed, it is growing to about 4 feet tall. It has quite a few tomatoes but none are even near ripe yet. They are supposed to be medium sized and red, I think. I sure won't put them in a container again. Too big.

And last for today - a pepper I grew from grocery store seeds. I call it Aztec Hot. When ripe they are yellow and red and quite hot. My husband liked them so we decided to try them and they have been very successful. They make a great plant for the Earthbox and are loaded with peppers. I have 4 of these growing.
I'm at the point where I'm starting to look for things that worked and things that haven't worked and making notes for next year, especially for what will grow where and in what container or space.
Happy Gardening!