July garden update

So these pictures are already a bit outdated - everything is bigger - but they're just after I put up the rabbit fencing.

The rabbits and I were good the past three or four years.  I was doing the hay/straw mulch, and they were content to mostly nibble on that.  I wish I could have gotten it this year, both for the misdirection from nibbling (zucchini, cucumbers, and Serrano peppers) and because I didn't realize just how much it was helping with weeds.  I need to do a seriously thorough weeding this weekend.

So putting up the rabbit fencing meant it was also time to put down the soaker hoses, which have had some placement adjustment to get them closer to the plants, but the hoses go under the fence, so they went in first.  The front tomatoes are a mix of plum and I think celebrity; the back tomatoes were originally going to be cherry tomatoes, but I never managed to get plants, so they're a mix of plum and early girl.  In between there's zucchini and cucumbers, which are slowly recovering from the rabbit.  I don't know if I'll get any this year, and the zucchini plant, despite being huge, is not producing.

The corn is all taller than me now, and you can't see the apple tree behind them from this perspective anymore.  (Note the grape vine in the background; I pruned it severely in the spring, and it went wild.)  In front of the corn you can see the pumpkin plants on this end; I put them on both end and have trained them up the aisles.  Supposedly they will deter raccoons, not that I've ever seen raccoons in our neighborhood.  The rabbit is still getting in to the pumpkin leaves a bit, but it's not killing anything at this point.

Haha, yellow squash.  We're already doomed.  I've picked a dozen already.  I thought I only had two plants; I have four.  There are jalapeno and Serrano peppers closer to the fence; they are producing reliably now that the latter have recovered from the rabbit somewhat.

I do better with lettuce (and catnip) outside; I've moved it into the shade so it doesn't get sunburnt.  The lettuce is mostly bolted at this point and needs to be cut down and reseeded.  I should probably move the catnip to a bigger container.

And the zinnias are blooming!  I've only seen a couple butterflies so far, but these will probably be making flowers for a while yet.

I've been reading up on herb gardens this week; I'm trying to decide where it's practical to do in the remaining spaces and what I want to include in it.  I don't want to overcrowd the deck again since I use the telescopes and binoculars there for added height over the neighbors' houses, and the bed next to the roses I think is too shaded.  In front of the house has some really nice perennials but also a lot of empty space that I let go to milkweed while it's flowering, as well as some hydrangeas that don't flower that I have failed to kill.  Other than those three spaces, I either need to make additional beds in the back yard (feasible but I probably need to remove some flowering shrubs to do so) or plan to do containers on the patio and move my zinnias next year.  Either way I expect I will be bringing a bay tree inside over the winter.