A mid-summer garden tour...

We planted our garden about 2 months late this year because of sprinkler system issues.  Now that we are hitting 100+ degrees every day, I hope we can nurse our vegetables through the heat of summer.  I am LOVING the better growing conditions here and am amazed at how much easier it is to grow things.  Our last house sat on a vein of horrible soil/dirt/sand/clay and I struggled to get anything to grow...even rhubarb! I am grateful that I kept trying, though, because I learned a lot.

I had several rows where only 1/2 of the seeds sprouted (look at the beets in the middle, or the lettuce on the right).  Any idea why? I'm wondering if there was too much compost in those spots.  

See that dark green strip in the lawn?  That's where the compost spilled over while we were turning the soil.

I think "baby" peppers are the cutest.

When I asked the guy at the nursery if I really needed 54" tomato cages I was pretty skeptical, but our tomatoes are already growing over the top of their cages.  

The pumpkins are beginning to grow "overboard".

I love the leaves on the watermelons.  Other things we are growing include cantaloupe, cucumbers (not doing well), zucchini, and strawberries.  I planted butternut squash but the seeds never sprouted.  Perhaps I'll buy some new seeds and try again because I LOVE squash.

The neighbor's pomegranate tree has quite a bit of fruit on our side of the fence :o)

I am training the morning glory vines to climb up the posts.  I'm excited for them to bloom, and hope I don't regret planting them if when they start to take over.  I already caught a couple of the vines trying to choke the zinnia's so I had to put 'em in time out on the post.

The pot on the left holds a dwarf lime tree, and the pot on the right has a dwarf lemon.  They will have to come inside during the winter (hence the reason they are in pots).

Our front porch has full shade, so I planted Impatients.  I couldn't figure out why the bottom pot wasn't blooming, and then I realized that the top pot was getting about 1 hour of sun each day.  It just occurred to me (this morning) that I could easily rotate the pots every time I water so they both get their "day in the sun".

Our neighbor across the street, an "empty nester", is moving.  She GAVE us her basketball hoop, and this set of monkey bars that her late husband MADE for their children several years ago.  All it needs is a coat of paint and we'll put it to good use for many more years. Any color suggestions?