July Garden Tour

I realized that I never posted a picture of what the entire garden looks like this year.  So without further delay, here is the 2014 garden in early July:

Starting on the left, row 1 has corn, amaranth and sunflowers.  I don't know what my issue is with growing corn.  For three years now I get these short, pathetic corn.  This year they have started to flower and produce corn at only about four feet tall.  I really need to get my soil tested this fall.  I added horse manure compost, but I'm thinking that wasn't enough.  I'm hoping I still get some ears out of the corn.

Row 2 is tomatoes.  The Florida weave staking seems to be working so far.  It is probably time to add another row.  The main problem I have encountered is that the different types of tomatoes are at different heights.  The Yellow Pear tomato is definitely the largest and is beginning to flop over the wire, so it definitely needs another row of support added.

There are lots of green tomatoes, so it should be a much better harvest than last year.  These Supersauce tomatoes are huge!  I'm getting impatient waiting for them to ripen.

Row 3 is cucumbers and sweet potatoes.

Row 4 is melons, Swiss chard, beets, carrots and what is left of the onions.  There are several baby melons.  I'm hoping they will ripen in the next couple of weeks.

Row 5 is winter and summer squash.  There have been some squash bugs and vine borers.  It seems the vine borers hit the summer squash harder than the winter squash.  I have lost three summer squash plants, but I have new ones planted that should start producing by mid-July.  I'm growing Cushaw squash for the first time and it seems to be doing very well and not a single one has been hit by the vine borer.

I have had a new squash problem this year.  My patty pan squash have been splitting on the blossom end.  I've never had this happen before.  Anyone know why?  My guess is too much water, but it is odd that I haven't seen splitting in anything else.

Row 6 is newly planted summer squash, some remaining potatoes (to see if they get any bigger if I wait to harvest), eggplant, peppers and some herbs.  The Cubanelle peppers are loaded with fruit (forgot to take a picture of these).

Row 7 is beans, peanuts and some more melons.  Row 8 has broccoli planted under the row cover, followed by cabbage and then kale and lettuce under the shade cloth.  I should probably give up on the cabbage because they don't seem to be forming heads.  I have planted more winter squash between the cabbage, so when they start taking over I will have to finally give up.  I guess the spring was too hot this year.

I have Nevada lettuce planted under the shade cloth and so far it has germinated outside and seems to be doing fine.  I don't know how it tastes yet because it is still small.

The last row is flowers including zinnias and asters along with flax and chia to harvest the seeds.  I also planted the second round of winter squash in the last row.

I hope you enjoyed my garden tour.

This post is shared at Green Thumb Thursday at Grow a Good Life.