I'm just sayin'...

Pre-rinse, by the way.  They still have milk residue on them.

The end.

The garden got a makeover...

...Because this happened:

Oh hello, Mildew!  How ya been?

And considering the fact, this also happened, courtesy of me:

At least they get a little breathing room now.

And because I decided to be lazy, they only made it this far.  Because I didn't feel like figuring out a way to get the stakes into the yard waste bin when the bin is not completely empty.

Angry little pile of disgustingness.  Oh, BTW, those squash leaves have nothing to do with mildew.

Unfortunately, the sage is suffering a bit.  I think it's some kind of insect eating it.  Not sure what.  I'm going to cut it back further, since it looks pretty scraggly.  Needs a better shape.

I think the bugs are using this herb more than I am.

These flowers seem to be doing okay, however:

Please stay healthy!

And the green beans, although bushy and huge and awesome, are not being very productive.  I wonder if it has anything to do with their slow start.  Pretty, though!

Chicken overboard!

Oh, funny story.  Actually, I'm not sure I blogged about this before, but my oregano plant was obliterated by pests, so I pulled it out (a miracle in itself).  Well, all the anecdotes about oregano came true.  Check it out!  A volunteer!  It picked a weird spot, under the hose there.  But whatever.  I'm leaving it.  Hopefully it will return to its former glory.

Hello, you tasty little herb you.

I think one of the little cucumber budlings is getting bigger!  Also Scruffy.

Not that you can tell from this picture...

And finally, I have this weird little bug.  I am told it is a type of longhorn wood borer, which is supposedly bad for trees, but a good pollinator.  So yay for the plants, but crap for the fence and swingset, I guess.

Pretty though!

The end.

Patchwork Patio: Scruffy Edition... Also flowers.

Scruffy, you are freaking huge and out of control.

Also, the fading light makes you look half dead.

But look at the glorious abundance of fruity goodness spilling forth from your trunk!

And now, some flowers.

Although this is the Scruffy/Also-Flowers edition, I thought I'd throw in a couple of extra things.

Cucumbers spilling all over the place.

I moved Squishy Jr. to the corner of the patio, and dragged Squishy's former resting place over to the side.  I went ahead and threw some more zucchini and crookneck seeds into the bag.  Never hurts to try, right?  I'll let you know how it goes!

Squishy Jr. has a new baby!

This was the old baby.  It was rather scrumptious!  Also green beans.

The end.

Squishy, I bid you a fond farewell...

Squishy went downhill fast today. 

That yellowish tint in the picture?  Yeah, it's really there.

Oh gracious, Squishy, you have seen better days...

I went out and nabbed the last of the zucchini (most of them were babies, but there were two perfectly sized ones, and another that I accidentally left on the vine too long).  There are no more blossoms forming, so this is definitely the end.

It was a delicious last hoorah.  We ate these with dinner.

I like angles, and they like me.

Ah, Squishy, we had such good times.

I apologize, by the way, for the atrocious picture quality of this post.  I was too lazy to take new ones.  I think we all get it.  They're squash.

The end.

I was right!

Scruffy's cherries look even more yellowy-orange this morning!  I'm convinced that they are finally blushing.  Now I need to find out how long between now and ripeness.  Can't wait!

The end.

I decided to take my own advice

Yep!  I weeded!  Unfortunately, I didn't get pics of all the gloriously weed free garden until a week later, so it's not perfectly weed free like it was.  Still, it looks better than it has in a long time.

By way of proof--weed free!

As you can see, the beans are doing pretty well.  Not getting many beans off them though.  I'm wondering if I'm feeding them the wrong thing.  Gonna give them a few more days.  Maybe they're just trying to catch up.

But in case you're wondering about the other legumes, I hacked off half of Climby and threw it in the compost pile.  I left the bottom half on the trellis, thinking maybe I'd try a fall crop and have the new ones climb the old ones.  But I'm not sure, it might be too late to bother planting a fall crop.  It all kinda depends on whether or not I can find seeds.  I haven't started looking for them yet, mind you.  But it's almost August, so I dunno.  Unless I get them in the ground tomorrow (yeah, not gonna happen) it seems pointless.

But what do I know about fall crops?

As crazy as it seems, one of them keeps trying to grow back!  It's already gained six inches in a week.  Nuts.

Beanly.  I still have a mole trying to dig here.  I stuck the hose down into its hole like I always do, and I could actually see the ground plumping up on the other side of the plant bed.  I think the little varmint was actually trying to get away!

Anyway, moving on.  Squishy is looking pretty wrung out.  Still putting out squash, but it's definitely slowing down.  And it's tending towards only putting one gender every day rather than both.  We'll see how much further he goes.

Are they working you too hard, Squishy?  You look like you need a vacation!

Good job, Squishy!  Bringing more fruits to the table!

The crookneck plants are doing pretty well.  Sometimes when it gets really hot it droops a bit.  But overall, I think it's doing okay.  And that little baby crookneck is actually growing!  So I think I pollinated it successfully.  It's the only female to bloom yet--the rest have been males.  Which is typical, I think.  But I'm looking forward to trying this squash.  Crookneck squash is one of my favorites!

That's two crookneck plants in there.  Very bushy!

Happy little squish!

I'm a big fan of Crookneck, so I was very excited to have the opportunity to have our picture taken together!

So anyway, the cucumbers are vining like mad, and I'm getting some blooms.  I'm just hoping I also get cucumbers, and not just vines and blooms.  Either way, it's pretty with them spilling out of the box like that!  I had to prune them quite a bit to open up the base of the plant, otherwise I was going to have some major fungus going on down there.

Vine-a-riffic!

And I might be mistaken, but I do believe one of Scruffy's little green cherries is beginning to transition colors!  I might just be hoping that's what's happening, of course.  Time will tell!

Is it just me, or are you getting a little less green?

And finally, this is what happens if you're lame like me and say to yourself, "Oh crud, I forgot sunscreen... oh well, I suppose one day without sunscreen is no big deal, right?"  Wrong.

It burns!  It burns!

The end.