Garden Update!

Remember how the garden started out?
Or how it looked just after being planted?

Check out how it looks now, after several non-consecutive weekends of rain:
It's huge! It's green! Everything is still alive! Woah!
We still aren't sure what we are going to put in between the beds. The pavers above I got from freecycle, but I think that we might go for stepping stones with low ground cover in between.

Here are some close ups (click on the photo to enlarge):
Herb Garden

Vegetables (hot peppers & tomatoes shown below. With nasturtiums and cilantro mixed in)

Clematis (with a bit of hail damage)

So far, I've only see 1 white butterfly in the garden and 1 ladybug. However the lack of a serious aphid infestation leads me to believe there are more beneficials around. The Sungold tomatoes are the first picture. They are REALLY coming along. All of the other tomatoes that I started (my Freecycle tomatoes are planted, but not shown in the photo) have buds with the exception of Wonder Light...they look healthy though. And my cayenne peppers? Totally rockin'. Don't believe me? Check this out:

The herb garden has also been quite productive. I love picking a few sprigs to put into whatever I'm cooking. Most of my herbs should be perennials, so I won't have to buy or plant them again! Hurray!

Also note that the garden was planted approximately ONE MONTH ago! Holy cow! I don't think my plants grew this big during the entire season last year!!! The difference? Um...following advice from books: using good fertile soil (check!), getting at least 6 hours of sun a day (check!) and planting diversely to attract beneficial to eat pests (check!).