| Okay, I was probably a little behind since I put seed in the ground in late May and only transplanted tomatoes and jalapenos from seeds I started, but how are everyone's crops doing? It seemed like I was nursing young seedlings before I was out of town for a few weeks. I applied some extra SBM to the garden that was left over from the lawn, and added a day to the watering schedule to make sure everything was watered on the 4th, and I returned to a jungle!
Okay, it was mostly the pumpkins growing out of control, there are a few double softball size. We also went from no tomatoes to quite a few with new blossoms too. Still all green though.
A "volunteer" sunflower has over 10 flowers on it that did a good job at attracting bees. Some of the lettuce should probably be harvested. We debated last year whether to remove outside leaves and keep it growing, but it just bolted to seed in the heat. The celery does better with this approach - pick outside stalks as needed, doesn't have the problem of going to seed.
I sort of forgot/should have started earlier the peas, there are only a couple of pods, probably due to the heat. Also should have started the broccoli earlier since it is a colder weather crop, but the one that germinated is still growing.
The yellow squash is developing a couple that are close to harvest. The green beans are very bushy and blossoming. I finally broke down and thinned out the tomatillos to remove probably 20 plants, since I had spilled the seeds and had incredible germination rates. Jalapenos are making a comeback - one broke off at ground level in the wind but has just about caught up with the other. Peppers are slowly but surely getting more mature. Onions look a little better than last year, we'll have to remember to use the tops as chives. I put some kitchen waste in one spot (including the bottom of an onion) and an onion started from it!
I probably should have started another round of cilantro to make sure it was available when the tomatoes are ready, it looks as though it has gone to seed.
The melon crop is showing vigorous growth, and all are blossoming (honeydew and cantelope) except the watermelon.
Corn is probably between three and four feet tall, although it looks like birds had raided those rows since there aren't nearly as many as I planted.
A couple of new things this year - in addition to the pumpkins - are also doing well, wax beans (planted later) acorn and butternut squash (but still no blossoms). One of the eggplants is getting much larger, but still no blossoms. We also threw in some pinto beans that we got from a random mailer, and they look almost identical to the green and wax beans (so far).
I read an article recently that talked about how children who grow up with gardens are more likely to eat their vegetables and prefer them to other foods. How's that for motivation to get your kids to eat their veggies? Here's a similar article, although the first one I read was on msn or something, but this sounded like the same study. | 
