Back From Vacation.

I'm back from vacation. I didn't say anything before leaving because things were crazy right before we left and announcing to the internet that your house will be vacant isn't wise!

There was not a heck of a lot of prep that was accomplished before I left. I topped off the reservoirs on the containers, watered the rest and tied up as much as I could. I was hoping that the every other day pattern of rain would hold while I was gone and for the most part it did. My vacation casualties are few. I lost all the sweet pea vines in the balcony containers and a good chunk of the lower leaves of the middle tomato. The 16oz of water I left these guys with wasn't enough when the heat and wind arrived. They recovered with a lot of watering yesterday but it looks like quite a few buds are toast.

No losses in the circle garden, just a lot of work to do. One of the smaller untied tomatoes went nuts while I was gone and it has begun to sprawl and make the whole bed look messy. The peas are almost ready to come out as well. No real weed issues in this bed though, the cocoa bean mulch did its job. {man do I need to edge or what?!}

No casualties in the corner bed or weed issues either. I did yank a couple bok choi, some spinach and some lettuce though. It got bitter and big in the heat. This bed will need some work this week. The tomatoes in the back (unseen) have grown out of the top of their cages already and will need some stronger support. The only thing that did not have a lot of growth in this bed while we were gone was the beans. Still nothing much happening there. Dumb beans.

Harvest wise, there were a few treats. The first tomato of the season! It was Sungold. I met my goal of a tomato before the fourth of July and it was delicious! The cherries successfully avoided the birds. I harvested seven and ate six. I shared one with hubby. Heh.

I was pretty sure I would miss the peas while we were gone but was pleasantly surprised. Even the bigger, slightly wrinkled shells of sugar snap still tasted sweet. We had a big old meal of these and there are still more coming!

Other losses/concerns. One of the lemon cukes has gone poof. It's completely gone. I'm not sure if what ripped it out was of the two legged or four legged variety. The potatoes suffered a bit while I was gone. They are looking a bit wind beaten and chewed on but should survive. Something continues to eat the heck out of the peppers. They are suffering for it with still no buds.

Nice surprises: Huge growth on all the tomato plants and their fruits. The watermelons, cukes, squash and cantaloupe also made some nice growth. Heat arrived here while we were gone and it helped. I still have tons of greens coming. Only one variety has bolted and gone bitter. I think having that bed in the shade makes all the difference. Remember Persimmon (aka prima donna)? It grew! A lot! It unbelievably has buds on it now. Unfortunately, I didn't remotely expect that kind of growth from pokey in only a week so I delayed staking it. Now I have three plants in that container that are shaped like giant L's. Make that six, since the three pepper plants also fell down in a storm and are now crooked. Oh well, if Persimmon gives me fruits before Halloween, I'll live with lop-sided plants.

Vacation was great and I didn't think once about the garden while I was gone, but now that I am home, I'm anxious to dig back in and figure out how to make those dumb beans grow!