Summer Vegetable garden gone crazy

In these days of the summer doldrums with heavy rain each day, I go out to inspect the vegetable garden that has fed us throughout the fall and winter and spring.

Summertime when the days are humid and the sun is punishingly hot, no tomatoes will set fruits, and mostly everything else is past. We still have okra and black-eye peas, neither of which we care enough about to pick. Eggplants, sweet potatoes growing everywhere and peppers strive meekly to produce a few fruits among the weeds that now have taken over everything.

The stalwart volunteer army of the zinnias and cosmos and red sage entice the butterflies by the dozens. Soon enough it will be time to clear out the seminole pumpkin vines and the sweet potato vines, and cut back the sprawling tomatoes. But, for now, we can relax, let the stink bugs have their way and enjoy all the insects that are here in this magical garden.

Skunk vines cling tightly to the deer fence and one early morning I will cut them down.

Meanwhile, the lawn is green and vast, the bromeliad garden and the others are doing well. Rainy season is just about my favorite. I have ordered the fall seeds and bulbs and my husband has begun constructing and installing the new raised beds for the vegetable garden.

The garden spiders are busy depositing their egg cases in each place they call their own, frogs are calling every night in joy after the rains, the hummingbirds are frantic to get enough nectar from our feeders.

I picked several pounds of grapes today - determined to get them before the raccoons do- and tomorrow I will make grape jelly.