A Garden Update

So half the tomato transplants died, as did most of the peppers and some of the basil.

Why? I do not know. The carrots never came up, either, which is pretty standard for here. I only have a single parsnip, too.

But let's focus on the good things, shall we?

I had almost given up on them, but the beets have finally sprouted. There's hope yet for Aunt Belva's Pickled Beets.

There were two volunteer tomatoes in this box bed:

In the shadow of that giant volunteer sunflower, which is coming out as soon as I get some flowers from it.

You can see some very healthy-looking tomato plants behind that bed, too. Those are the ones I found the tomato hornworms on this week. I pulled off five of those nasty things, which means we are on High Hornworm Alert from now on.

I actually still have twenty tomato plants, despite the attrition, so I would really like to keep them all from being decimated by the hornworms. Or the army worms, which are sure to show up any time.

This year is also the first year I've been seeing cabbage worms on the brassicas. Luckily, they're all almost all at the harvesting stage, so a few holes aren't a big deal.

Or a lot of holes.

I've started harvesting cabbages in sufficient quantity for preservation to begin.

And by "preservation," I mean "sauerkraut."

And the many peaches on the garden peach tree continue to grow satisfactorily.

Of course, these could all still be destroyed by hail or insects or another disaster, but at least there's a chance of fruit this year.

As usual, I'll just keep weeding, watering, and praying that all of these things produce a harvest for me.