Posted by melannen on 2013-06-15 23:31:45 UTC and edited at 2013-06-15 23:39:36 UTC

So, update from last time:

Most of the beets I transplanted are still 'alive', and by 'alive' I mean 'the leaves are sticky-uppy and don't look wilted'. They haven't been growing much, though, so it may be a futile effort (on the other hand, beets have a long growing season, maybe they'll turn into a 'second planting'.) The non-transplanted beets are getting big and bushy again; I have no idea if they are making good beetroot, though. The tomato plants I put in the hanging planter died; possibly they were overwatered, possibly they were damaged when I tried to put them in the pot (which was clearly designed to take nursery plants that had grown up in confinement, not feral children off the streets.) I have a nasty suspicion that the design of the planter actually squeezed the life out of them, though; one was doing alright for awhile, and then overnight it dropped down a few inches in the planter and the section of stem that had come through the slit in it was crushed flat.

As a result I've decided to let the rest of the tomatoes live on in their own way. Enough of them are growing tall enough that we will certainly not be short of tomatoes, if they actually fruit; no blossoms yet, but there are buds coming on the biggest ones.

The beans and squash have been blossoming, though! Even the ones that never really throve and only have three or four leaves are still flowering like crazy. The bean plants have been industriously growing beans: I had my first harvest of five yellow wax beans this week! No sign of actual fruit on any of the zucchini yet, but maybe I just don't know what to look for; I'm not worried.

In the meantime, we have acquired several more tomato plants and some pots of herbs and lettuce that were donated to our church sale and not bought, so they came home with us. I haven't done anything with them yet; they're still sitting by the side of the house in their pots (haven't watered them either, but considering how much rain we've been getting…) I haven't decided if I'm going to attempt to reload the hanging planter with tomatoes or not; these ones are really bigger than the instructions suggested for replanting. On the other hand, not like I need more tomato plants. I honestly don't care about the herbs: I am not big for using herbs; my idea of fancy seasoning is 'maybe a little salt or some onion and LOTS OF BUTTER' and I hate pesto-type stuff. I could put them out by the driveway just as pretty groundcover but betcha they'd die there.

The lettuce is tempting, but some of it's flowering already, and I get the impression that it's not good to eat after that…? Anyone have advice on fancy multicolored lettuce?

Meanwhile something has built a nest and filled it with eggs in the coils our our garden hose. Which I mess with at least once a week, usually more. We're thinking they're very bad parents and abandoned the nest right away, though, since we haven't see any parents around. (I'm not good at birdnesting: Eastern US, about the size of robin's eggs, scruffy but nest-shaped nest, lots of eggs, white-cream with red-to-black freckles, very poor choice of location: anybody have a guess?)