Corn is Tasseling

My corn is barely 2 feet tall and it's already tasseling. I'm trying a "pygmy" variety that's meant to grow in colder climates with shorter growing seasons. I wonder if the ears of corn themselves will also be miniature. Hope not.

I have striped cucumber beetles present in the garden. They are enjoying the leaves of all my curcurbits (melons, pumpkins, and cukes), but the damage isn't too bad yet. Next year, I will need to start the marigolds MUCH earlier if I want them blooming by June to protect from cucumber beetles. And the giant Cinderella pumpkin plants are quickly overtaking the entire bed of corn. Time to prune a bit :) Next year, I'll plant a smaller kind of squash plant to mingle with the corn. Maybe butternut.

The limas are going crazy with this recent heat. They LOVE it.

Tomatoes are flowering, even the "colossal" variety.

Sunflowers are 4 feet tall with no sign of a flower bud yet.

Bobby helped me bend a few more arches to expand my squirrel exclosure. Woo hoo! Most of the yard and garden stuff I can do myself, even if it takes me longer. There are only a couple jobs that really demand two people at a time: bending the frames and drilling crossbars onto the frames.

I got to report 0.91" of rain in my rain gauge this morning. Kinda felt nice to report something other than zero. Kinda nice to know that I'll only have to water the garden a little bit tomorrow.

The peas are still producing, even with the heat. I'll keep them in until I'm ready to put something else in their place. I'll start preparing my "fall" garden this week by planting chard and broccoli seeds indoors.

Weeding hasn't been much of an issue this year. The garden is brand new, so weed seeds haven't had a chance to blow/settle in. I'm also planting my veggies in a dense array, as outlined in How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits* (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) *than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine. This is my first year with this method, but John Jeavons makes it easy with all his charts, graphs, planning worksheets, and helpful illustrations. It's a joy to have this author as an urban food production mentor :)

Seeing my garden as it is just makes me happy. I can love the humid heat and the thunderstorms a little bit more because they are essential to my garden's success. The blistering sun that makes my back patio torture to visit after 9AM is the same sun that keeps my garden healthy and growing. And if I ever figure out a way to grow some sort of edible shade over half of the patio, I think that will strike a better balance. Something like hardy kiwi or grapes will grow densely in the summer (cool, relaxing shade) and lose all its leaves in the winter (warm, inviting sun). It's the framework/structure for this green shade that's the tricky part. Gotta think that through some more. I should start a new Pinterest board for it, actually :)