One of the pear tomato plants has yellowing leaves. There are a multitude of causes for yellow leaves on tomatoes. Some are nutritional, some due to watering (too much, not enough, too irregular), some disease-based. I snipped off as many of the really ugly ones, and now it’s just a game of wait and see. The pear tomato plant in the Earthbox also has yellowing leaves, and I know for a fact it’s because it’s too wet. Those boxes are always too wet (and I never water them, seriously NEVER). I think I’ll let the tomato bed really dry out before watering it again. The rest of the tomatoes all look great (except the pineapple tomatoes), and I’m fairly certain we’ll be eating our first tomatoes next week. Even the roma tomatoes are beginning to set on fruit.

The potato plants are also behaving oddly. One of them is dying back, and all of them still seem to have some signs of blight. I think the dying back is part of the normal process though. Supposedly the plants begin to sprawl and then die off shortly before being ready to harvest, and according to my calculations, that time is coming up soon (they are short-season potatoes). Though it is entirely possible it’s blight only and I won’t have any edible potatoes at the end of this experiment. Won’t know for a few more weeks, though I may gently probe around the mound at some point just to see what’s down there.

Black Seeded Simpson lettuce (perhaps all lettuce) is apparently a thistle kind of plant. The seed heads on the one I am letting go to seed are like dandelion heads. I may have missed collecting a few, and who knows where the seeds blew off to and planted themselves. I guess there are worse things to have going weedy in the yard than tasty lettuce.

My wimpy corn plants seem to be producing corn. About one per plant, which is more than I could expect to hope for considering they aren’t getting enough sunlight and they are only 4 feet tall (if that — some are shorter). Any of the plants not having cobs on them by the weekend are getting pulled up to give more resources to the other plants in the mounds.

Some of the squash are struggling. I had to pull two plants up that seemed to have been attacked by some kind of root insect. But, there’s another pot of squash sitting out there waiting to be picked and eaten, so I am not complaining too much.

The vine beans are finally getting tall. In fact, they are finally taller than the corn that is supposed to be supporting them. I guess I’ll be building some kind of bamboo support system this weekend. Still no sign of flowers though.

The second planting of bush beans are looking great! Very reliable plants. Next year I’ll be doing more varieties of bush beans. I seem to do better with them.

The carrots are awesome! As soon as I run out of carrots from the farmers market, we’ll start eating our own. Next year … more carrots.

The okra is beginning to grow taller, and I think we’ll eventually end up with a good amount of okra out of them. That first pod to appear is very large and healthy. I am letting it go to seed for next year. It’s the earliest pod on the healthiest plant (growing under the most dire conditions in my experimental area), so it’s a good candidate for using for seed. Maybe next year my okra will be better.

Let’s see, what else? Oh yeah, the scallions are still a little wimpy, but now that the lettuce is gone, they seem to be getting larger. The basil is all doing better since I added the lime to the bed, as are the cucumbers. Everything seems happier since I added the lime, and maybe in a few more days I’ll see even more improvements from the recently added fertilizer.

Basically, everything is going good but not great. For my first foray into solo gardening on a larger scale, I guess I shouldn’t complain. It’s been a learning experience (again). “Not so easy growing your own food, is it?” Lin asked the other day. I didn’t expect it to be easy. I did expect to get slightly better results than I am getting, but I am pretty new at this. It is my first time having a real garden without the back-up support of parents and elderly neighbors and family members. He was right to keep reminding me not to pressure myself so much to produce vast quantities while I am still learning what works and what doesn’t. The winter garden is already going to benefit from what I have learned this summer, and next summer’s garden will be even better.

I’m thinking of starting some tomato seedlings. The time to plant fall tomatoes is coming up soon, and while I intend to just keep my current plants alive through the non-productive heat of our Texas summer to have them produce again in the fall, which I know works from last year’s experiments, I might need or want to replace a few plants due to disease or general wimpiness. If I start them now, they’ll be good and ready to go out into the bed or a pot when the time comes. I’m also thinking of going Darwin on some more of the plants. I always hate to do that, but in the end, doing so has only helped the situation. Resources spent on plants that aren’t thriving or producing are resources wasted.

I’m going to go flea goo the cats (forgot to do it this weekend), make my second cup of coffee, and go pull some weeds and kill some aphids … and hover over my almost-changing-color tomatoes. :)