Bucolic Bushwick: Enjoying the Calm

I sound like a broken record, but I don't care because the garden is still doing great! So far I see no signs of any pests or disease. Usually I'm battling aphids or spider mites this time of year, it's a nice change of pace. I'd like to say this is all due to my steadily improving gardening skills, but frankly I think most of the credit goes to the mild weather we've been having. Heat waves put a lot of stress on plants, which opens the door to pests and disease. No heat waves means less stress. I'm going to enjoy the calm while it lasts because I expect this to change as soon as the first heat wave hits.

Getting rid of the smaller containers was the right decision. At this time last year I was watering the garden every other day. Right now I'm only watering 2 times a week!

Sunsugar F1 cherry tomato

Little Baby Flower F1 watermelons

I count 3 watermelons so far. I haven't done any hand pollinating since this is my first year growing watermelons. I'm not familiar with the watering demands of this crop so I don't want to get myself in a situation where the water reservoir can't support the potential fruit load. This year I'll just monitor the water usage and act accordingly next year. My initial impression is that watermelons are slightly thirstier than cantaloupes so I doubt I would plant 3 plants in one container next time around. I've been lifting the fruits to test their weight and they feel a bit heavier than cantaloupes of similar size.

Lil Keeper F1 melons

I've spotted 2 melons so far.

Beaverlodge tomato

Orient Express F1 eggplant. This plant has really taken off in the past week

The first eggplant of the season.

Some of the plants are getting a little too much sun so more shade cloth was added to this side of the garden.

Yukon Gold potatoes. The leaves are starting to turn yellow so I'm going to stop watering the container and let the plants die back before harvesting.

Sugar Buns F1 corn. I added a 2nd layer of window mesh on the afternoon sun side to double the shade factor. The shade is definitely helping, the leaves look much greener than they did a couple weeks ago.

Orange Blaze F1 peppers. Lots of fruits on these plants.

I originally planned to add shade cloth to just the tomato plant on this side of the roof, but then I noticed this pepper with sunscald so this container got shade cloth as well.