The First Big Harvest

I stole a minute away from work(s) to play in the garden Saturday afternoon. Though it was 90 degrees outside, with a smidge (read: a lot) of humidity clinging to the air, I picked our first big harvest...about two dozen ears of corn, several squash, tomatoes, peppers and still more broccoli. Later that day, I ate two ears of corn. YUMMY! 

The vegetables seem to be loving this hot, wet summer. The foliage on the tomato planets continue to grow outside of their cages and the squash seem to be unable to align with the fence. Instead, their tentacles would rather crawl through and wrap around the corn. A friend told me that's how Native Americans used to grow corn and squash anyway--simultaneously and symbiotically--so we must be doing something right.

Tranquility...finally!

After a three week (or so) hiatus, I was finally able to get my hands dirty in our garden. I must say, JC has done an amazing job keeping things thriving! He's actually a much better gardener than I am. He knows all the tricks to keeping the weeds at bay, the corn standing tall, and the squash from waging war against everything within reach (they love to "coil" their grubby fingers on anything and everything in sight; see below).

You can no longer see the separation between the corn and squash

The afternoon I was able to finally garden was sunny and hot and humid. It was heaven. We pulled weeds and a few peppers to promote more growth. I find this is the lull time. So long as the veggies have sufficient space and water, they do not need much tending, especially after the grass clippings are down. The initital planting is over. Weeding is minimal. It is too soon to harvest. The lull time is the waiting period, in between the back-breaking work of planting at the beginning of the season to the rewarding period of harvesting.