The crops

Eli and I went out to The Farm today--our 20x50' community garden plot.  It's been very dry here in Iowa, so we wanted to irrigate our crops.  Our irrigation system = a 5 gallon collapsible water container (identical to the one we took camping when I was growing up!), two 1-gallon milk jugs, and a plastic watering can.

 Here's Eli on our plot.  The community gardens are on a stretch of city park along the river.  It floods every so often, so the soil is more sandy than my back yard, but it's mostly that black Iowa soil that everyone in the world covets.  I feel so fortunate to be able to garden here in Iowa!

As you can see, our plot has a lot of crabgrass growing in it.  Most of our crops are space-hogs--pumpkins, gourds, and watermelon--so there's a lot of empty space around each plant.  We did some hoeing last time, and mulched with straw, but there's still plenty of space for weeds . . . maybe we'll just have to keep hoeing until weed season is past (they slow down around mid-July).

I love seeing the other plots here.  I would guess there are about 200 or so, each 20' x 50'.  Our neighbors have these beguiling pea frames made of branches.

Others have rows of crops of various sorts, many with gallon milk jugs still protecting the tomatoes from frost (and cutworms?).

Despite the dry weather, our crops are doing well.  The pumpkins are especially healthy-looking.

My Brussels Sprouts are doing fine, as well.

The Romanesco Broccoli and Zinnias are up and looking good, but are just tiny seedlings yet.

On the home front, I bought flowers for my big concrete pots that are on the patio.  I moved one pot close to the back door--the one most people use.

Looks handsome there, I think.  It'll be fun to see that when I come into the house.  And there's another pot almost exactly the same, near the chair where I like to sit and read or crochet on the patio.