Jungle or Jumble?

A few weeks ago, my plants were small, but I had confidence that they would grow. I upped my hand-watering a little. And we have had soaking rain once a week. I fed them, too. Now the plants are quite large.

Only after watering (or rainfall) do I feed the plants. The first water should just be that -- water; this gets the plant's vascular (water/nutrient uptake) system going and hydrates the cells. Then I do a light watering with the food mixed into it. I suppose the watering is like an appetite stimulant for the plants. Plus, it provides water in the plant cells so the follow-up nutrients are circulated into the places that need it.

My plantings are mixed up, so to speak, this year. Instead of one section for each type of plant, I inter-planted. I think the corn is the only item I kept to one spot, which was half-planning and the rest circumstance. I'd have planted a second, later crop, but my personal schedule got in the way of sequential plantings. The planned part was that I seeded the corn in a recessed area of a raised bed. In The Vegetable Gardener's Bible, the author recommends this so that the bed stays better hydrated. It catches water and rainfall and holds it longer. We certainly have had the kind of sun and heat that corn seems to like. Mine's looking good, I think.

Overall, all of the plants have grown really well. I can no longer see over them into the adjoining plot as I could a few weeks ago.

Saturday morning I hand-watered. I transplanted a few basil plants that were small. Sunflowers were shading them, so I moved the herb to sunny spots.

My herbs in containers on my porch are growing extremely well. I hope to have photos soon. Meanwhile, here's some aerial photos.




Update: the Alzheimer's is more advanced than the doctor originally thought. Now my 3 sisters and I are trying to get her the help she needs, but the insurance is not making it easy. She needs a full evaluation that Geisinger health insurance will not cover.