Garden midterm

Working east to west...

Popcorn. A-
Doing well in the heat, strong stalks, looking forward to putting your fruit in the microwave.

Orange Cheddar Cauliflower. A-
Surprised to see two heads forming already, way to go! I was worried slugs might overtake you, but you are resilient. I hope you're tasty.

Broccoflower. C
Not looking so hot. Definitely not winning any ribbons at the fair for presentation. Holey leaves, but still going. Hang in there!

Zucchini. C.
You are not who I thought you were. I thought you'd be yellow. Then I remembered I forgot to plant the yellow ones. So, anyway...You're green and you are average, though ribbed. Same ol' problem with squash bugs and plenty of zucchini and no one wants them... Getting our fill is not hard. How many recipes are there for zucchini? To tell you the truth, you're a little boring. But easy to grow.

Mini Purplette Onions. B
You are delicious and mild. But I'm not sure when to pick you.

Baby Round Eggplant. A+
You, my friend, are the star plant of the garden. Hardy, hmmm boy. You show no sign of weakness and you're spitting out blossoms (into fruit) like crazy. I think you're getting a promotion next year. But...I'm not sure how big you should get. I think I need to hunt down those pesky seed packets.

Carrots. B+
Much neglected, but doing ok. Learned the other day they need constant even watering to prevent forking. And all my carrots look like octopi so guess who's not a good carrot farmer. But the main reason to grow you is your appearance: purple and red, orange on the inside.

Peas. B+
Climbing high and pulling the string down. No matter how hard to pull when you tie it, it ends up sagging. I told Keith we need some kind of system that ratchets down as the plants grow so there's always tension on the string. You are not worth the energy it takes to get one cup of shelled peas, but you're a delicious in-garden snack. You're staying put.

Beans. A-
Doing ok despite not having much to hang on to. We had so many beans last year I think we unconsciously decided to not be so serious about them this year. And it shows. 4 plants made it. Out of 7?

Seedless watermelon. A-
Plenty of blossoms coming on and I hope you're going to work. Had to plant a regular (w/seeds) watermelon next to you, but I think you're doing ok, yes? Let me know if you need anything. Besides cut up and served at the BBQ.

(Green) Tomatoes. B
I hope you're going to turn red. You've been green an awfully long time. Kinda like me waiting for the zucchini to turn yellow. We have FOURTEEN tomato plants. Eeeek. Last year we had 3. I think this year will be the Year of the Tomato Challenge. How many quarts of salsa and soup can we make? Maybe ketchup.

Peppers. B++
Definitely room for improvement here, peppers. The biggest plant is doing well (see above). The rest of you need to catch up (see above that). The ones we've eaten so far have been mild and I'm thinking they are not jalapenos. Might want to check that garden plan we made up and wrote down what went where...

Also: beets - ambivalent; potatoes - doing well, I think?; pickling cucumbers - getting a few here and there, working up to a batch...

The tiny house, on the left, at sunset.