Each day, I'm able to harvest enough pole beans for a side dish with dinner and also freeze enough for later. The pickling cucumbers are starting to come strong, but I have to admit I forgot we planted the pickling cucumbers next to the regular cucumbers. This one got quite large before I realized what was happening.

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The corn and pole beans have taken off. Actually, the pole beans are growing at a much faster rate than the corn causing some problems.

The beans are taking down the corn!

The pole beans have grown so tall, with no where to go, that they stretch over to other vines or corn stalks. The multiple beans vines get together and pull over stalks. I've added some large poles and twine to give the corn stalks some relief. I'm not sure if I'll plant them together again next year.

I had my doubts about the success of the corn, but ears of corn have started to pop out on several of the stalks. Of course, progress reports will continue. ;-)

2nd Raised Bed -- Its Transformation

This second bed is located on the NW corner of the yard. Maybe I was just tired after preparing the first bed, but it was much harder to turn over the soil in this second bed. This could have been the neglected bed, but I'm so thankful the previous owners even put it in!

After an unusually wet spring, here in Washington, I began to question if I should have planted the 30 ears of corn. They look like this, not growing a single inch, for at least two weeks. Actually, everything planted in this bed seemed on hold; the lemon cucumbers (far end by the wood trellis), loose leaf lettuce, pole beans, peas, radish, zucchini, and the pumpkin (the closest little plant in the picture). This is also the bed we ended up planted the seeds that were soaked. Making it the Surprise Garden.

When the sun finally came out, and the temperatures soared, I noticed immediate changes.

These pictures were taken a week ago, but show the growth in this bed.

The lemon cucumbers, zucchini, sweet peas (that have been moved and trellised into the first bed), and pole beans.