Our Garden is Soaking Up the Rain

We stopped by the garden to check out our plants. It was dry moment on our way home, we've had a lot of rain recently.  We were surprised at how much every thing had grown. The improvements we've made to the soil have paid off.

We added two truck loads of compost this year and I fertilized when we planted. Top that off with a lot of deep watering and the garden does just fine without our help (so do the weeds). I can see that the soil is retaining water and filtering it much better than last year. Rather than rivulets from heavy rainfall, we have nice fluffy soil.

The potatoes are growing, but have tell tale holes in the leaves. I looked at the underside and saw a flea beetle hopping around. These bugs caused me a lot of grief last year.

The tomatoes are growing fast in the new green tomato cages I bought for them. All the plants were doing well, with only the carrots lagging behind. Next trip there will require the scuffle hoe to deal with weeds in the pathways.

The next Grow Write Guild prompt is out. What plant is the essence of summer to you? I've picked mine to write about. It was the first that came to mind, so I'm sticking with it. But, I wondered what plant others would say is the essence of summer time to them? Feel free to share yours in the comments below.