Where has the time gone?

Today is August 5th and I just realized that it has been about 2 months since I last posted. Here is a quick update sans pictures.

Backyard
Because of the abundance of shade from two large maple trees it has been and continues to be difficult to grow much in the backyard garden. The exception is that my blackberries performed moderately well and in the spring, leafy greens grew well. As a result, I think I am going to remove my backyard raised bed to free up some space in the backyard and just focus on the blackberries. I'm hoping next year will be even better as it will be the third year for my first plant which should be well established by then. Maybe the two new plants I planted this year will start producing next year.

Community Garden
Gardening at the community garden was a little rocky at first because it was new and we also had a new baby who was born in May. The combination of getting the garden started and caring for the new baby (and our other two sons) was pretty stressful. I also had a few setbacks early on with spring rainstorms and poor drainage. I kept the faith and soldiered on and now we are reaping the benefits.

After I replanted some of our tomatoes and mulched they have done well. We've had a bumper crop of Grape tomatoes. Probably picking two or three quarts a week from only two plants. The Roma tomatoes are also loaded with fruit and are now ripening. The Big Boy and Sunbrites have produced some ripe fruit and there is still more on the plants. I planted two late season tomatoes (Rutgers and Beefmaster) which will provide me some tomatoes in late summer / early fall.

After picking about a combined dozen yellow and zucchini squash, the plants were infested with squash bugs. I couldn't keep up with caring for the plants so they succumbed to the infestation.

The green peppers have performed well and are healthy. They are continuing to produce more blooms and peppers.

The cucumbers started out well but then began to wilt some as the summer heat became intense. They also were under some insect stress, I'm guessing from cucumber beetles. The plants have since rebounded and are now producing more cucumbers.

The watermelon was a little disappointing. The vines became so infested with weeds that I think they were not receiving adequate light. I did a thorough weeding a few weeks ago but I think it was too late. I managed to pick three small watermelons from two plants. The first two tasted pretty good, we'll see about the third.

I tore out the squash and wildflowers and replanted with green beans and broccoli. Both seem to be doing well. I'm hoping to start picking green beans in a few weeks. If all goes well, the broccoli should be ready in mid to late September. I really need to keep an eye on the broccoli though. Last year I had a problem with cabbage worms and I hear harlequin bugs can be bad too.