The End of June Garden and a Hot Day

We're entering into a run of hot and humid weather here in the northeast, so I'll limit my garden activities to morning and evening now. This is the time of year where the garden looks very lush, since there's still a fair amount of rain and the summertime diseases haven't hit the growth yet. The peas are about done for now, but the swiss chard, kale and cabbages are coming in hot and heavy. My broccoli did fair. I should be getting zucchini any day now, but each day I eagerly look to see if the baby squashes are big enough to pick yet and they aren't quite. I thought zukes were supposed to double in size practically overnight! Never mind; I never have had much luck with them, so what do I know?

Here's a look at the end-of-June garden:

 My spouse mad those pretty little garden gates for me. He is a neat sort of person. I, unfortunately, am a cluttered sort and I think it drives him crazy. But he tolerates it.

 In the foreground you'll notice an open space between the garlic and the onions. That is where I harvested my softneck garlic from and it's since been re-planted with beans. Below is a close-up of the hardneck garlic, which should be ready soon to harvest. Last year I'd already dug them up by now, but this year they seem to be staying green longer. I hope that translates to bigger bulbs!

 A close-up of a bed of storage cabbages and some kale plants  
 My winter squash bed. I'd like to train those tendrils toward the fence and the outside of the garden, but odds are they will defy me and grow to the right, crowding my cucumbers and pole beans.

 A bed of coastal star romaine lettuce and behind that a few varieties of red cabbage and even further behind near the fence are onions.

To the left I have a long bed of pepper and eggplants, to the right you can see the summer squash. Down the center, in the foreground are beets (quite spotty in the front bed, because cutworms really went after the sprouts with a vengeance in spring), behind the second beet bed is a bed of shallots and behind that carrots and sugar snap peas.

I didn't really include pictures of the tomatoes, cukes and pole beans or the early lettuce bed which is now being replanted with late summer squash. And behind the tall sugar snap peas at the back of the garden is a long bed where my shelling peas were. That is being               replanted with some little heat resistant lettuces that I sure hope make it so we can      keep having nice summer salads.                                                                                 

One of the biggenst changes to gardening, for me at least, is succession planting and extending the season. It makes for more work, but it also makes for a much greater harvest. Since my soil is rather marginal (I'm working to improve it every year) and my sunlight is so limited, these techniques are hugely helpful to getting us a decent harvest.