Incredible Growth Spurt over the Past Two Weeks

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home! I returned late last night, so didn't get to inspect the garden until this morning. Everything has grown like crazy!

The Good

• The black raspberries are coming in strong. It looks like a bumper crop ... certainly our best ever. Cutting down trees last year has made a real difference.
• The last of the sugar snaps need picking.
• The broccoli and the green cabbage is ready to harvest.
• We have cucumbers on the vine.
• Some of the beet roots are as big as my fist.
• The herb bed looks like a jungle! The basil needs cutting back. The mint is prolific. I feel a craving for mojitos coming on!
• The potato plants are healthy looking. I sneaked a peak and found a few nice sized new potatoes.
• The edamame and long beans are growing well. The long beans must be trained onto the string trellis amidst the peas.
• The jade bush beans are blooming prolifically.
• The yellow squash plants are huge and starting to bloom.
• It's time to remove the row cover that's over the cabbage and broccoli because I have zucchini planted under there, and the zucchini is starting to bloom. Must let those pollinators in!
• The young chickens are thriving, having gotten their fill of cicadas! They'll be kept separate from the rest of the flock until they're no longer eating the "start and grow" feed.  

The Bad

• The toscano kale (and bolted mustard) has been invaded by two kinds of cabbage worm. I pulled up the worst infested plants and harvested the rest. I'm glad my broccoli and cabbage bed has been under row cover.
• Two pepper plants have shriveled up and died, but all the others are looking healthy, with little peppers forming.
• While the beets are thriving in the good half of the bed, the other half still looks puny. I'll have to check on the results of my soil samples.
• One chicken died while I was away. It was expected. She had been feeling poorly. 

The Ugly

• The asparagus has flopped toward the sun and downhill onto the beet / pole bean bed.
• The pole beans are a tangled mess with no support for climbing.
• The tomatoes need staking.
• The cherry tomato plants have just about been overwhelmed by the bolting lettuce. I pulled up all the beautiful, albeit bitter, lettuce plants.

Rouse hadn't emptied my rain gauge since I left. It's registering 4-1/2 inches. By the time one takes into account evaporation, it's probably safe to guess we've had 5 inches of rain in the past two weeks. That's good. The problem is, most of it fell last Friday, causing flooding and uprooted trees. One tree fell across X Campbell Road and onto our driveway in the middle of the night, causing quite a mess. DOT was right on it, though, clearing the bulk off the road at 1:00am when son, Andrew, came home that night. Rouse didn't even know it had happened!