Fail Gardener Update: The Calm Before The Storm

This post is part of an ongoing series about the amateur gardening efforts of Second Snack. With no prior knowledge of how to do any of this, hilarity and fails will most definitely be happening. Follow along and see how this experiment turns out.

Its been a couple weeks since I've updated you guys about how the garden is doing. I have to admit, when I started all of this, I figured half of everything I planted would die. I really couldn't have been more wrong. The thing I've learned through my first season of gardening is that plants are really hearty. They survive and grow against all odds and no matter what conditions are around them. Every morning I take a stroll through our yard and take a look at our plants. They're big, healthy, and on the verge of unleashing pounds and pounds of tasty vegetables on us.

After planting the garden, we got hit with a bout of cloudy, dreary weather. The tomatoes suffered a bit and probably picked up a case of early blight. I freaked out when I saw dark spots on the leaves but Sarah's aunt assured me that sometimes this just happens. The weather wasn't great and the leaves got attacked. My fears subsided and I just let the plants do what they do... grow. In fact, they grew bigger and faster than I ever imagined. When I put the plants in, I thought that maybe I hadn't planted enough. There seemed to be so much open space. Well, space is now a problem. The Zucchini and Yellow Squash plants are monsters and might crowd out the bush bean plants that are next to them. I have a problem of over growth. Speaking of growth, check out what the 1-inch squash pictured above looks like today...

The big yellow squash you see in the photo is probably a couple of days away from being picked. It's the first fruit to spring from any of our plants and I'm feeling pretty happy about being able to eat something that I grew.

Here's how the bush beans are looking. We've got some flowers sprouting now. They're delicate and white and just started showing up about a day ago.

And now for the centerpiece... The tomatoes. Here's a shot of one of my cherry tomato varieties growing. They start off so small and then grow and grow and grow. As the flower dries up and falls off, the fruit starts to appear. Its really amazing to watch the progress each day.

Here's another shot of one of the cherry varieties. My bigger tomatoes are starting to fruit but they're a bit behind. I'll share pictures as soon as they've got some bigger tomatoes on the vine.

This isn't a great photo but after a short bloom of a purple flower, a baby Japanese eggplant is starting to grow now. I planted this two weeks after the initial planting so its smaller and behind where the other plants are. But, its started to fruit pretty quickly. I can't wait to put this with some zucchini and some squash in a vegetable medley.

The cucumbers are starting to bloom as well. Next year, I'll get a cage for them to grow on. You can see a little arm growing out in this picture and the plant uses those to grasp on to things to climb. Right now the plant is growing along the ground so I'll need to keep an eye on the fruit to make sure they don't rot on the ground.

 I didn't plant these so I can't take credit for them. I don't even know what these flowers are called but they're a great red color. Unfortunately they don't attract bees but they sure are nice to look at.

 Since I took this picture, this plant has died. Its a shame because the orange color was so vibrant.

 This one is still alive though and its fantastic. The pink color is really nice and its a healthy plant that's easy to take care of.

Not sure what the name of this plant is but it has also, unfortunately, died. Its ok though because I have an opportunity to go buy something new now.

I could go on about how I feel about these plants and watching them grown but I think the pictures really do speak for themselves. I've got a stretch of earth that is growing food and giving me hours of enjoyment. There's really nothing more to it than that. This is the best hobby I have ever had. I walk outside every morning and feel a great sense of pride that I have been witness to the growth of these plants. Oh great, there's the wine talking again. Time to go. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

For anyone wondering, most of these pictures were taken with the 50mm 1.4 and the 10-22mm.