What's happening in the garden in May?

We are anticipating a bumper crop this year. The garden is growing and looking healthy. We do have a slug problem, I just need to go on some midnight slug hunting trips. Come by for a meal or some tomatoes.

Cherokee purple, Tye Dye, and a zucchini plant are all setting fruit in barrel number one.

This is the Eight-Ball zucchini. I pulled out the roma tomato that was in this barrel, and now it is taking over. We'll probably be harvesting the first zucchini in 2 weeks or so. I should really learn how to cook the squash blossoms, because aren't those everyone's favorite part of the squash season?

 The third barrel has cucumber, basil, and a Brandywine Yellow. I love how the Brandywine's giant leaves unfurl like prehistoric dinosaur food. This tomato is the only one that does not have fruit yet. On impulse, I bought some tat soi and Chinese mustard to tuck into the garden beneath tomatos and such. You can see some tat soi in the bottom right corner.

 

Here is the San Francisco Fog with the Early Girl. Both have more fruit every day. I have no idea how I'm going to hold these monsters up toward the end of this very long growing season. 

 The peppers are setting fruit, too. All except the habanero, which is getting bushier and bushier, and has some tiny buds on it, but no flowers yet. Maybe it is deficient in some nutrient, or maybe it's just not warm enough. I will do some research. 

 Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes!

 Tons of baby squash!

 These scraggly cherry tomatoes I think aren't getting quite enough sun, or maybe I forgot to add compost to the soil in this pot, or maybe I'm overwatering... but for whatever reason, they're scraggly. But they are setting fruit. Soon we will have our first little cherry tomatoes.

 We have lots of strawberries this year, although they are a  favorite of the slugs. I'm having some success with the copper tape. I wish I had a duck to eat our slimy frenemies!

 The pole beans are beginning to climb.

 This planter has a mishmash: a tomato, I forget which variety, rosemary, beans, a california poppy, a calibrachoa in the bottom right for the hummingbirds. Those little flowers are some of my favorite.

 This is a roma tomato with some mustard greens and a tomatillo. I've never tried to grow tomatillo before, and never even used them fresh in the kitchen, so this will be a fun experiment. I anticipate tacos with green sauce.

Another experiment is this eggplant.

Last year's coreopsis is coming back.

So is the lavendar.

It feels good to watch my garden grow this year.

Posted at Small Footprint Fridays