Confessions of an overplanter – part 2: The consequences

When I last posted about my garden progress and the excess seedlings, it all looked kind of cute. The seedlings were growing but still quite small. I confessed to being an overplanter and admitted I was aware it could all go awry. I predicted chaos in the garden, and I was right! Right now, the plants in all the gardens are huge! It looks impressive, if somewhat wild, but the gardens in this state comes with its challenges.

Zucchinis, beans and tomato plants

Garden under the avocado tree

Garden bed progress

The tomatoes are out of control. Completely. I tied them back and still can’t tell where one plants ends and the next one begins. I have lost track of which plant is which variety. As the tomatoes ripen that may become more obvious. Or maybe not. I’m waiting to see what happens. I’m not really sure how I think I’ll see or access all of the tomatoes in this mass of tomato bushes.

Cherry tomatoes

Tomato

Tomatoes

Tomato plants

Tomatoes

I am having the same problem now with the throng of zucchinis. Amidst all the leaves and overtaking pumpkins, are some large zucchinis near the fence I just can’t access without destroying the front plants. Sadly, I think they will need to sacrificed. As I have a glut of zucchinis I haven’t exactly missed out. But lesson learned for next year – don’t plant zucchini plants in front of other zucchini plants!

Zucchinis

The beans harvest has slowed down a little over the last couple of weeks, but it is still going strong. The purple beans have been particularly prolific. I have picked so many beans over the last couple of weeks, I see hanging beans when I close my eyes.

Purple beans

Beans

As predicted, pumpkins are definitely taking over and sprawling across the yard. Underneath the mass of pumpkin leaves, the lettuce, corn, tomatillos and cucamelons continue to flourish. But as they have been blanketed by the leaves, I’m monitoring this situation to ensure these vegetables are still receiving enough sun. Each morning, the pumpkin vine has grown several centimetres. It has now broken the garden boundary, grown across the pots near the garden bed and has started moving past the house. How far will it go??

Pumpkins taking over whole garden and starting to climb the fence

Pumpkin flower

On a side note, a couple of weeks ago I discovered an old piece of ginger at the bottom of the fruit bowl. Two small shoots were protruding from the ginger so I broke it into two pieces and planted them in a pot. Yesterday I noticed the ginger has started sprouting in the pot. Hooray!

Ginger shoot

In another exciting development, the mangoes continue to grow at break-neck speed. The mango tree, at the rear of the yard, is an impressive and thrilling testament to the summer conditions responsible for the sudden increase in growth of my summer crops.

Growing mangoes