Garden update: Week 6

So far this season, I've been visiting the garden much more frequently than last year, and I'm really enjoying stopping by for a few minutes of weeding or watering or watching. After a few days away, it's an exciting moment for a new gardener to see everything that visibly transpired during that absence, so while I have missed that experience, the flip side is that I have a chance to observe tiny, tiny changes that happen over the course of a day or even a few hours. Recently I was peeking at the area where I'd planted the next batch of purple beans, and I saw a seedling just about to emerge from the ground—as in, it made the shape of a lowercase "n" in the ground. I was amazed.

From today after a rainfall:

The tomato plant in the red cage is kind of obscuring the rest of the plot's right side, but there's hopefully some basil and Swiss chard about to sprout, as well as some transplanted onion seedlings. (Also, I didn't really notice this until now, but I think I need to weed the plot's edges.)

Other updates:

• The purple beans are flowering wildly (see below).
• More tomato flowers in sight, but just one actual tomato so far.
• The lettuce is officially growing (and is more visible to the eye! though it's behind the orange tomato cage on the left).
• All of the beans seem to have made it past the bug threat on the first level of leaves.
• The oregano (lower left) in particular is growing especially quickly (and possibly taking over the other herbs).
• I am officially concerned about that tomato plant on the right side of the picture, in the middle. It has had a harder time than the other plants bouncing back from June's heavy rains.
• The jalapeno is springing into action, with two peppers and more flowers emerging. The poblano plant is newer but still very quiet.

Flowering purple beans

This is just my second year of trying my hand at gardening, but I see no end in sight for this hobby, so I'm appreciating this stage. I love the feeling that's a mix—in equal parts—of pride, joy and utter surprise when a seed sprouts as I had intended, more or less as scheduled. I also appreciate a recent nudge that I am not always in control of what happens in a garden (and that's part of the fun). A few lettuce seeds sprouted; a bunch did not. I worried that I had accidentally planted my climbing beans too far away from the fence for success. My mom reassured me that the vines would be okay, and sure enough, a few days later they veered way back and started marching up the fence (and then quickly into the sky). I'm learning to trust the process.

I started the garden in late May, and a lot happened there in June. I'm excited to see where the garden goes in July, August and September.