Such drama!

Well, I figure I'm overdue for a post.  I was going to make a post yesterday with some pictures that I took a few days ago, but last night we had a bunch of hail come down.  So I took new pictures this morning for a more honest assessment of the aftermath.

But check it out!  Everything looks great!  Even my young little Squishy the Squash, and my green bean patch Desmond.  So I am pleased about that.  Hardy little things!

Since thinning Squishy down to one lonely squash plant (for those why are interested, I ended up keeping Squishy #3), he has been growing a ton.  He still had that flat, ground-hugging formation yesterday, but today he is actually up off the ground and reaching up for a sun hug.

Happy to be alive!  I could swear the big leaf doubled in size over the last twenty-four hours.

So, funny story.  Yesterday evening at about seven, it started hailing like crazy.  We live in the PNW, so none of that golf ball sized hail that some folks get, but hail nonetheless, and to my knowledge, plants don't usually care much for hail.  So, me being the goober that I am, I more or less panicked, because Scruffy (my tomato) has already been through so much, I was afraid the hail might kill him the rest of the way.  So I ran out to put his cover on.  Well, guess what.  I was so hasty in trying to get him covered and safe in his cozy little house that I--hahaha, get this--I put the house on sideways.  The bad kind of sideways.

As I was running back to the house, my son Miles cried, "Mom, you just squished the tomato!"  My initial reply was, "No I didn't, I just put his cover on," but as I turned to look, I noticed that the opening that is supposed to be facing the ground was actually facing East.  I had indeed squished Scruffy.  Poor Scruffy.  He takes a beating.  But if a plant was ever a fighter, it is Scruffy, because when I went back out this morning and took the house off--before you ask, yes, I did go back out and put it on proper right away--he looked as fine as he did yesterday, and maybe even a little more robust.

That's my Scruffy!  Hanging in there still after all he's been put through.  He's a tough tomato-equivalent-of-a-cookie!

Ahem.

Anyway, other things.  I can't remember if I told you that my radishes kicked the bucket.  Well, I kicked it for them.  They had stopped growing and the roots weren't forming into anything.  I'll decide what to replace them with later, when I have money.  Ha.

But here is Climby, my happy little patch of sugar peas!  She is getting taller and taller.  One issue--which may not be an issue for all I know--is that Climby is trying to climb herself as much as she is trying to climb the strings.  I'm still looking into whether or not that matters.

Climby's corner.  She is being crowded by my oregano plant, named Burt.  Burt, control yourself!

My tallest pea plant, Climby Tallestness.  She keeps getting tallester and tallester!

The guys in the corner there look like they're strangling each other.  Either that or they're in love.

Even Desmond (the green beans) survived the hail.  We'll see if they survive the dandelion invasion.  Good gracious, get out there and weed, Woman!  I may do just that if the sun hangs around long enough today.  It may be my only chance for a while, if the weatherman can be trusted.

Poor Desmond is being encroached on by dandelion sprouts.  Bad, bad dandelion!  No biscuit!

In other news, some seeds are coming up!  I threw a cut flower mix on the other side of the tomato bed, and as you can see, they are waking up.  Healthy soil makes them happy.  The mint is in crappy soil.  But it still seems to be coming up okay.  At least I think that's mint.  There's no real way to be sure if you're me, except to wait and see if they start looking like mint later.

Crappy picture of flower seedlings in happy good soil.

Slightly better picture of what may or may not be a mint seedling in crappy, angry soil.

All in all, things are looking pretty good out there!  I've already started thinking of how I would do things differently next time.  Like a teepee trellis for the peas, which would be more supportive than strings.  Or planting more than one tomato and zucchini plant so that I'm not so emotionally invested in their survival (in other words, plant insurance).  Probably other things too, but I don't remember them.  I'll tell you later if I do.

As a last something-something, here is a picture of the pea trellis from the porch end.  I'm hoping that when the peas get tall and climb all the way up and so forth that it will look really cool.  We'll see.

See their little heads peeking over the top of the porch?  Nosy little things should mind their own business!

The end.