It's the middle of summer...

...so what's up with all these clouds?  Oh, duh.  I forgot I live in western Washington for a moment.

Anyhoo, what is going on in my garden, you ask?  Well, this for starters.

Ooh, some bonus dandelion seeds!  Woo!

Perhaps that should have been for finishers.  Aha, I kill me.

You may be wondering how Squishy is doing, actually.  Well, we went through a rough patch, but I think he's coming around.  His foliage is looking a bit ragged, but I think that's due to the fact that he's putting all his energy into fruits now.  I'm not sure how much more life he has.  I've never grown zucchini before, so I'm not clear on the whole progression of things.  I'm pretty sure Squishy is not immortal, though.  Anyway, regardless of appearance, he is still putting out some nice fruits, which I always pick too soon because I can't wait, and also because they're so yummy when so small.

Ooh, two more on the way!

You may be wondering what all those patches of white are on Squishy's leaves.  Well, I spray him with this milk-water solution.  People tell me this helps stave off powdery mildew.  I have no experience with milk spray or powdery mildew, but if people say the former prevents the latter, then I'm willing to give it a try.  Especially because anything that ends in mildew can't be a good thing.

If you're curious about this rough patch I spoke of, I was having some fruit problems, where they wouldn't grow very large, and they had a funny texture.  I figured out that they were experiencing poor pollination.  I have since been hand pollinating them, and the fruits have been much better since then.

Now on to the other Cucurbits.  Apparently I like to throw in a fancy word here and there to sound smart and/or knowledgeable.  Anyway, Squishy II, or whatever I named it, is huge.  Well, they are both huge, I should say, since there are two growing in there.  My patio is officially being taken over by Cucurbs.

Wowzers.

The cucumbers are also doing great.  Check out the triplets!

So viney.

But this is where it gets so adorably precious!

Gweesh!  So cute!  This is the crookneck, obviously.

Also cute!  This bud belongs to the cucumber, and surprisingly it is already yellow.  But having never grown cucumbers before, I'm really pretty clueless about what to expect regarding blossoms and whatnot.

So that's what's going on in the squash family.  Let's have a look at the Legumes, shall we?  I hate to say it, but Climby is all but done for.  She's still putting out a few peas here and there, but they're tiny and oddly formed.  I've decided to just leave them there and see if I can get seeds out of them.  I'm not really sure how that's done, however, so I need to do some research.  Also, since I don't remember what variety I bought, I'm not really sure the seeds will be viable.  Apparently hybrids don't reproduce.  It's worth a shot though, I suppose.

You done good, Climby.  Thanks for all the sweet times.

The green beans are doing their thing.  I'm actually getting some beans out of these.  Last time I attempted bush beans, I got one lousy bean and then the plant croaked.  Anyway, the beans have been most tasty!  I've been throwing them in everything.  Yum.

So beanly!

Again with the milk spray.  The new plants aren't looking their best, but I'm hoping they come around like the earlier generation did.  They're definitely growing faster than the first ones did, thanks to the warmth.

Now, I never pay the flowers any attention when I'm doing this, but I wanted to show you the wildflowers.  I think they are in on this taking over the world thing that the squash have going on.  Because wow.  Huge.  Especially in the vertical sense.  In fact, they got so tall, they started to get all roamy and encroachy (I'm sure those are words), so I had to tie them up just to keep them from choking out the little green beans.

Umm, holy smokes?

Of course, Scruffy needs a turn.  He is still huge, and there are so many green tomatoes all over the place, I don't know what I'm going to do when they start ripening.  Which hopefully will be soon.  Hopefully.  Emphasis on hope.

I'm huge!

So plump!  I feel like they could start blushing any day now...  Also, milk spray.

And as a grand finale, I figured now was as good a time as any to take a picture of the entire spread, especially while the peas are still standing--or leaning, as it were.

It's hard to see the cucumber plants, but they are those bushy green fringe in front of Scruffy.

Note to self.  Weed the freaking garden, noob!

The end.