Overdue garden update

Current photo of our tomato jungle.

The garden is doing pretty well. Tomatoes are producing enough to keep up with our family's daily consumption (though not enough for canning surplus, unfortunately). A lot of the plants have an early blight, so some are dropping leaves and decreasing production. Lesson learned: plant tomatoes farther apart in this wet climate for better air circulation and less fungal infection.

I'm glad we let the volunteer tomato plants in the onion bed grow - they are producing enough cherry tomatoes for us to bring home a surplus after each garden visit. Plus they were free and took no effort - the best kind of garden guest!

Here are some glamor shots of our produce so far:

Kosovo, Kellogg's Breakfast. I love both of these varieties. Flavorful, beautiful and large. Definitely hoping to get them in the garden again next year.

Hillbilly Potato Leaf (beautiful, isn't it?), various peppers, fresh herbs.

A day's harvest (Black Krim on left, Kosovo on right and top), and our onion harvest for the year.

We are learning a lot this year about gardening in a community garden plot and in a far wetter climate than I've ever gardened in before. While I like the community feel of the garden, it's a bit frustrating when garden neighbors neglect their plots and let pests run rampant. I've resigned myself to a cucurbit-free garden plot for the foreseeable future, as the squash bugs are going crazy and transmitting wilt all over the place. Not a scene I want to mess with. BUT the tomatoes seem very do-able, and will definitely be a large component of our garden again next year. Plus Doodle now knows how to spot squash bugs, Japanese beetles, potato beetles and striped cucumber beetles, and will squish them on the spot. That's my girl.