Flowers and fruit.

We've been lucky with the weather, that's all I can say.  It has been unseasonably cool and generally rainy, which has made these babies very happy.  I've decided to name it the Eucalyptus Garden, because it survives so well under the mottled shade of my giant Eucalyptus tree.

Eucalyptus Garden July 7, 2012

The squash got started early with their blooms, but little else had seemed to follow until this week.  We have blossoms on the tomatilla plants and the very first sweet pepper blossom opened overnight:

First sweet pepper blossom!

Same with the tomatoes, which in the first case seem to be having the hardest time of all fighting off disease.  Many have wilted and curling leaves or stunted stumps.  Tomatoes, the night shade family generally but tomatoes in particular, really like cooler evenings and less heat in general.  Nevertheless, we have our first tomato blossom, too:

First tomato blossom!

I don't see a lot of pollinators flying through my garden, but you can see there are also ants that are foraging the squash flower and, I think, helping them to go to fruit:

Zucchini bloom.

What is most exciting is the beginning of fruit production.  The squash, again, are leading the way.  Here is the very first cucumber, surrounding by all sorts of blooming.  We hope it offers inspiration to its potential siblings:

Cucumber blossoms and the first fruit!

Yellow squash has also shown itself, with this tiny gem having appeared during last weekend and grown just a little:

Teeny weenie summer squash (isn't it cute?).

We also have a single gourd, this beauty, taking shape on the winter squash vine:

Gourd baby.

The whole collection is doing far better than I expected when I began this experiment, although the really humid days are yet to come.  Right now, for a baseline, the garden gets about three hours of direct sun in the morning and about three hours of direct sun mid-to-late afternoon, and rests under the cool shade of the Eucalyptus during the high sun of midday.  The containers are probably too small for the squash plants, which I have to water frequently, but all the rest seem quite happy in their two gallons of dirt.

Until next week.

Direct questions to The Gardener.