Plantastic!

After a slow start, my garden is really starting to take off!

The May photo was taken one month ago.  I was already a bit concerned I had planted my greens too close together...

...now they are completely overcrowding one another (bottom center, below). Instead of being a mere 5" tall like it was in May, the healthiest chard is now over 12" tall.  I've tried to take out one row of it to create some space, and I cut the lettuce way back when I harvest it for my many salads.  I have also thinned out the radishes (in the front row) since they were a) taking over and b) the few I have tried were really tough.

In addition to the greens, I am growing numerous tomato varieties (some planted this spring and some volunteers from last year's fallen fruit), cucumbers, marigolds, carrots and summer squash.  Not pictured are the onions, spinach and snap peas my housemate planted and I have since adopted since she gets her fill of fresh veggies from her weekly CSA share.

Thanks to the farmer's market, I have quite the herb collection on the side of my patio.  I use the basil pretty regularly, and often grab some mint leaves just to munch on when I am going past.  The larger mint plant is spearmint and the smaller, darker one is chocolate mint.  The latter is an excellent palette cleanser.
 

Lately we've had a lot of rain here in central Virginia, so I think Mother Nature deserves most of the credit for the garden's success thus far.   I am afraid I'll be missing some important developments in the next few weeks and hope there will be plenty of (red) tomatoes and zucchinis left when I get back!