So, my gardens.  Not gonna lie.

They look pretty bad this year. I know I say that every year.  Last year it was the bugs.  The year before it was the unrelenting sun and lack of good rains.  This year, it was TOO much rain.

Of course, the last two years I still managed bumper crops of nearly everything I planted.

I knew we were in trouble a few weeks back.  The squash leaves were yellowing at an alarming rate and the soil in the new back garden was staying pretty soggy.  The weeds were growing at such a rate that I could pull them all  and have to do it again almost immediately.

As of today, all of the squash has died with the exception of the cucumbers, which are doing surprisingly well.

The corn has also done well and is starting to tassel:

The sweet potato vines are also looking well.  The blue, red and yukon potatoes are at status unknown right now.  Probably they are dead.  The above – ground portion was eaten into oblivion by potato beetles.

The basil is faring moderately well.  The tomato plants are all doing well save for the pests that have claimed one of the plants.

I can tell you one thing that is doing very, very well, though, and it is something I didnt’ even plant.  It came in the form of volunteer seeds in the compost we brought from Susan’s.

These lovely sunflowers are my consolation prize for my lackluster food growth.

Honestly I could have probably saved a lot of the vegetable plants – at least the ones that were done in by pests.  I just took on too much all at once this season and couldn’t keep up with it all.  Honestly, I have over a thousand square feet of gardens to keep up with.

Lesson accepted, but probably ignored in the future.

For now I am tending to what there is that is salvageable, and planning to put the pigs in the garden this fall to root it all up and fertilize it for next year.

One day I will have a productive, fruitful, successful vegetable patch!

This year has been my most ambitious garden undertaking to date.  I have two raised beds in front full of radishes, chives, lavender, rosemary, yukon potatoes, and Adirondack blue potatoes.

I have the front garden full of garlic, arugula, two kinds of beets, two kinds of peas, pole beans, carrots, 4 different kinds of tomatoes, bell peppers, anaheim peppers, strawberries and raspberries.

The new, larger back garden has several kinds of pumpkins, butternut and acorn squash, zucchini and summer squash, two kinds of cucumbers, watermelon, two kinds of corn, blue potatoes, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, and basil.

Keeping up with the weeding has been the hardest part of it all (as is usually the case!).

The blueberry patio plant I bought last year (which was “guaranteed” to fruit the first year. Ha!) is finally in fruit.

The back garden.

Squash sprouts!

Sweet potato.

Red potato.

Pole beans.

One of the roses I planted to encourage visitation by pollinators.

It’s so hard to be patient when everything is just starting out, but soon enough if all goes well I’ll be overwhelmed with the bounty.

Fingers crossed!