Whuff, it must be summer; there's just no other explanation for how fast the weeks are flying by.  True to form, the Willamette Valley finally started getting its first true hot weather in July.  We left town for one week in the middle of the month, during which time EVERYTHING in the garden doubled in size.  I had several happy dreams while on vacation about harvesting large, luscious summer squashes, and they all came true as soon as we got home.

As advertised (and possibly due to their cramped 5-gallon quarters), the Cavili and Patio Star plants are remaining fairly compact, but producing nicely.  I had my first experience with blossom end rot, which was quickly vanquished with a foliar spray and top dressing of discarded calcium carbonate samples from work.  I'm not sure that plain ol' ground limestone can actually be taken up through leaves, but I was panicking.  They didn't seem to mind, anyway.

With the image of sadly shriveled little zucchs burned into my brain, will I forget about the importance of calcium and steady watering during fruit production in future years?  Unlikely.  Since my secondary Goal in the Garden this season was to get as many rookie mistakes out of the way as possible, I'm feeling pretty good about this little blunder.  Progress!

I'm glad that our tomatoes are only just beginning to ripen, because the basil and blackberries are keeping me pretty busy.  The small stand of canes that I nearly tore out in May to keep them from swallowing the raspberry patch are producing an embarrassment of enormous, juicy berries.  The nearby compost and llama poo piles are not hurting them one bit!

Operation Pinch That Basil is a resounding success.  Evidence is presented timelapse-style:

Pinched to the point of embarrassment

Three weeks later: Huzzah!