The sun is shining again in Seattle after an odd week of summer rain. My garden loved the rain & grew rapidly while it was warm & wet. There’s something about rain out of the sky that is so much better than processed tap water from our hoses & irrigation system. Plants just love the natural rainfall. The ground gets better coverage & saturation & the water hasn’t been processed.

Last night I was able to harvest a crookneck squash from the vegie patch. We put it into a Tava Stir Fry — yum! I think one of my crookneck squashes has a virus. I’m pretty sure its squash mosaic virus. I think I’m going to need to pull it so my other crookneck, cucumbers & winter squash don’t get it. Bummer!

Today I got out and noticed that the bush beans I planted are showing climbing tendencies. I put some stakes out, so we’ll see if they decide to climb or do more bushing out. I really hope they do the bushing ’cause where I planted them doesn’t make sense for climbers. I also put out trellises for my cucumbers, which are sending out climbing tendrils. And, I pinched out some tomato flower clusters. I want the tomatoes to have a little stress and begin to put their energy into the fruit already on the vines. This will ensure they start turning red. The one tomato plant in the front beds is pretty stressed & is already producing red fruit. I picked our first tomato from it last night. Yesterday morning, I put some black garbanzo seeds into the front beds. Those beds are seriously depleted, so I want some nitrogen fixers in the soil, mostly to begin enriching it. Any garbanzos will just be a bonus. The plants are beautiful, and the nitrogen fixing properties are wonderful!