Vegetable Garden Update

Friends, it's looking pretty bare out there.

Except for the weeds.

Darn!

Not a single seed I planted came up.

Wait no, there was one. 

One lonely bean sprouted, but it didn't survive.

My best guess is lack of water.

This soil is a lot more sandy than what I had before, plus it's been very hot, plus new baby, etc., etc....

The bottom line is: turning the sprinkler on 1-2 times per week for an hour was not nearly enough for my seedlings.

Duly noted.

The big healthy-looking plants in the foreground?

Pumpkin plants brought over by our sweet neighbor, as a gift.

We planted them in the last 2 beds, where the zinnias and sunflowers were supposed to come up, because obviously there was some space available there.

Hey look, it's a blossom!

We currently have one pumpkin growing, about the size of an orange.

(My dad's pumpkins are the size of basketballs.)

This pumpkin plant is not doing as well as its neighbor, but it's still doing better than most of the rest of the garden!

Our yellow straight-neck squash, which I planted from starts, have produced the bulk of our harvest so far. We have picked 7 or 8 summer squash now.

So we're figuring out what do with them.

My oldest has decided he doesn't really like them; my vegetarian sister-in-law says the same.

Humph.

I like them well enough, but I don't intend to eat 8 all by myself!

Apparently, they don't freeze all that well, either.

We've had some in soups, some with bacon and onions, some just steamed.

Any other ideas? 

The tomato plants are finally growing tall-ish, and we even have a handful of green tomatoes on them. Not sure when the first frost usually is around here, but I'm guessing we may have around a month to get whatever harvest we can out of them.

The pepper plants on the right are still puny, pathetic little things.

I didn't even take a picture of the cantaloupe, watermelon, or sweet potato plants, as they are also small and pathetic looking. 

Chalk it up to a "learning experience," right?

Plus, my lovely mulch paths harbor the most weeds.

Not sure why that is!

Maybe the garden beds have been too hot and dry for very many weeds to thrive. 

(Painful, but probably true.)

So, I already know for next year: water for longer, more often!

Also, I think I want to get some sort of drip system going next year, so that I'm not using up so much water just evaporating into the air.

I still can't believe the beans didn't even come up!

What have you harvested out of your garden this summer?