Garden 2010: It's Dry, But It's Happy

I haven't been blogging much about the garden this year, since I've been trying not to count on its bounty after the debacle that was last summer... But upon visiting it this weekend, I see that it's actually happy, and thriving much more than it did last year. It's really, really dry upstate, so keeping everything alive will be more of a pain that it should be. The earth already has that mid-summer concrete-like quality, which makes watering more work than it should be. But the plants are loving the sunshine, so I suppose that's the trade-off.

Looks like we'll have lots of tomatoes and tomatillos (pictured above), unless some of the neighborhood creatures eat them to quench their thirst. The pepper plants are mysteriously tiny, but they're already producing peppers, so we should be OK. The bugs are really munching the collards and the red cabbage, but they're continuing to grow nonetheless.

Here's our first cucumber! We have lots on the vine, and many more flowers, so if this little guy is any indication, we'll have a crunchy, yummy summer ahead of us!

And here's what's going to be the first maxixe of the summer. We have two vines, one of which--like last summer--will probably yield more than the other. But right now, they're happy, and there are lots of babies on their way.

The zucchini is beautiful. We're hoping the bugs that ate the roots last year don't come back, but in this dry weather, we think it's unlikely. And this particular variety produces especially creamy and wonderful zukes, so I'm psyched they're happy. Hooray!