"Fluffy" gardens

I always think that mid-summer gardens have a certain full "fluffiness" to them. Like all the plants are at their fullest healthiest point. Late June is before most flowers start to fade, before most plants start to collapse under their own sprawling size... Here are some shots of how the garden is coming along right now :)  It is filling in nicely. So far I've had enough minor damage from slugs and other bugs that I want to let things go a little further before I begin to thin it out. I had some little tomatoes that were really starting to take off, but when I went down today something had eaten one of them right at the base of the stem, and ruined the whole seedling. For reasons like that, I was to give the smaller plants more time to grow, so that they can survive a little bug damage, before I start to thin them. I have flowers growing along the front border (which have really taken off!) and everything else behind them is vegetables. I have tomatoes, peppers, basil, okra, egg plant, and ground cherries. We'll see which of that stuff is strong enough to actually bear fruit.

Really starting to fill in! Going to have to thin some of that out soon.

See how burned the grass is?? It's been very dry and hot here. Have been watering the garden every few days, and should probably do it a little more often to be honest.

I went out today and starting pushing that bush over the other side of the rail. It has been creeping in on my garden. Some of it was actually touching my tomatoes when I came out today, which is no good since that plant has grasping/twining tendrils that wrap tightly around everything they touch.

No rain for Chicago this year! Every thirsty bee in Chicago was up in my business while I was watering my garden today...