so it's been a while

Since I've written. Backpacking research and tomatoes with cream cheese have taken over my computer time. Seriously, the combination of tomatoes, cream cheese, and garlic is one of the best combos ever. Ever. And going into the garden isn't necessarily something that makes me super happy.

Here are some pictures of the garden, though, all along with the craziness of it failing. Ah! Well, it's an experience.

Anyway, here are way too many pictures of the garden.

The blighty tomatoes are running wild. Although good tomatoes are coming off of them, the 15 plants have only produced about ten pounds, max. It's actually quite sad, but apparently lots of tomato plants are giving people hard times this year.

See those little stems where flowers are supposed to be? They are completely gone, burnt to a crisp. I'm not sure what is going on, but the big tomatoes just aren't producing. The little guys, though, the little guys look great. 

The birds think they look great, too, by the way. Or maybe it's the bunnies.

The stems of the tomato plants are super weak. I have no idea what would happen if the trellis was not there. Look at the stem! There is absolutely no way They could stand up on their own.

These tomatoes, Georgia Peaches, are white when they are ripe. Unlike other tomatoes, they have a very fuzzy skin. It's not really visible, but this is a ripe, squishy tomato. There is no shine, no glossy skin. Yummy!

And the basil is practically a super farm. With almost 20 plants and five different varieties, there is not enough time to harvest it all! In fact, does anyone want to help me?

Gosh, that white tomato really does look that that. It's really unbelievable. Green Zebra, Yellow Pears, Roma, Sungold, and a few other varieties that I am unsure of at this moment. I can eat cherry tomatoes for every single meal. Snacks. Many times a day.

The sunflowers are beautiful, too. They are SO tall! Two rows of flowers have begun teetering over because of the weight. Gosh, they are wonderful.

This picture just has to be large. Try to blow it up, seriously. The little flowers are so cute. I appreciate them so much more after seeing all of the bees pollinate every flower.

These little flowers grow around the stem of the large sunflower. They are happy little flowers that come in before the big heads. I guess the flowers are for the little bunnies and critters that eat the veggies.

The calendula keeps growing. Seriously, it's spectacular. The stems are sticky, which is strange. And some of them grow wierdo flowers off the side. Strange.

The zinnia are really big, too. With a garden that is dying, the flowers have really saved my attitude.

The bell peppers have, too. So far there are no bad things that have happened to them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Peppers, do me well.

The carrots are cute, too.

They are still small, but they are colored very nicely. Some are white, others are purple. They are all still orange in the middle, though.

Remember my tin foil experiment? (I looked at that post for the first time in a while. Dang, the garden has come a long way.) I'm not sure if it worked. I tried it on some of the cucumbers, and it didn't seem to deter the beetles that ended up killing them. I don't think it's because tin foil doesn't work, but because they didn't cover the leaves, just the stems. Oops! Maybe next time they will be more useful.

Any, beetles aside, the powdery mildew has taken over. Powdery mildew, by the way, is a horrible, horrible thing. The powder travels via spore (like how a fern reproduces) and can easily transfer to other leaves. Once the powder takes over the leaves have a hard time photosynthesizing. The only use for them after that, I guess, is to transfer the awful crap to other leaves. So I chopped them off. 

The plants looked really funny all bare and naked, but I'm still convinced that it's better than leaving them on.

The only plant that seems to be remotely immune is the heirloom squash. Some of the leaves had the mildew, but I lopped them off. There weren't many, though.

The only problem with the heirloom is that the fruit is really teensy! It tastes good nonetheless.

Here are the plants, though. Weedy and all. Gosh, I have to do some upkeep. A few days ago I was chopping off a powdery leaf and before I realized it, took the whole plant with me.

I was so surprised to see this guy working through thee plant. Gross. the whole inside was orange and grainy, like the guy had eaten the insides of my squash. Screw him. With a quick Google search I discovered that this is a squash vine borer, a crazy horrible bug that usually goes unnoticed. Crap! And who knows how many plants are going to die. 

Look at that gross little guy. GET OUT OF MY SQUASH!

There are melons, though! Gosh, this is super exciting. The only problem is is that lots of the watermelon arms have died. Crap! Hopefully this little guys gets to be bigger. Hopefully.

If not, though, we have a few muskmelons that should do the trick. this one is a little bigger than one fist. 

Finally the cucumbers. The plants that have stayed alive are small and weak. Although lots of flowers are around, it doesn't seem like there are going to be any cucumbers that come from these plants. Damn.

And I guess I have to weed. and focus on upkeep. Maybe it was better when there were plenty of leaves to cover them. Ah.

Off to use up more tomatoes. Seriously, if you want to help pick some basil PLEASE let me know. It's driving me bonkers!