June 13 update

It's Friday the 13th although I don't put much stock in that.  If you believe that something terrible is about to happen then you make that outcome all the more probable, so don't believe it.   

If May is the month for planting, June is the month for growing.  The weather here this month has been moderate, even cooler than normal, with some long slow showers instead of deluges.  And things are growing, really growing.

The tomato plants are nearly chin high.  The rate of growth of a tomato plant always amazes me.  Maybe it's because they are more like a vine and don't have to invest in the wood to be self-supporting, the cage takes care of that.  This is where they are at now:

A few tomatoes are forming up.  These are Pompeii, a sauce tomato:

In the same bed the peppers are coming along well.  There's a mix of hot and sweet in there.  I'm growing chilis necessary for the makings of chili powder and salsa:

Two rows of Provider bush beans should "provide" me with snap beans by the end of the month.  A row of beets are nearly ready to pick.  How do you know when they should be harvested?  I think they are about ready, and I'm going to try grilling some.

Cucumbers are growing rapidly now, after a slow start.  This is Calypso, a hybrid pickling cucumber:

The summer squash are getting larger.  The sweet potatoes behind them are growing slowly, the weather not being hot enough for them.  The Fortex beans at the back are starting up the trellis strings now.

The onions and garlic plants won't grow much more, but the parsnip between them is growing rapidly.

And the potatoes are growing like potatoes.  I'm hoping the string supports will keep the storms from knocking them down.  If they are held upright they should last longer into the summer before succcumbing to disease, and that should mean more production.

The winter squash - Honey Bear Acorn, Metro Butternut and Teksukabotu - are just beginning their growth spurt.  They will likely cover the bed with foliage by the end of the month.  This bed was built last year after a tree stump decomposed enough to be removed.  Eventually it may get a structured perimeter but for now it's an open bed.

Lastly the perennial bed put in last year is growing new things that I like - asparagus, strawberries, and herbs. It's makes me wonder, how did I ever get by this long without a bed for perennial food plants?  There's something reassuring about food plants that come back every year that the annual crops just don't provide.  The fine foliage of the young asparagus is a little hard to see with the spot of morning sun on it, but it's there.  Next year I hope to steal a few shoots.

That's the garden in mid-June.  In July it will be time to reap the rewards.