Garden report

First of all, let me tell you we got almost an inch of rain last night, rain that came so gently I didn't even know it was raining; I got up this morning and there it was in the gauge.  We could have used more, but this was enough to save our pasture, and for that I am SO grateful.  You can use soaker hoses on the garden, but only God can water the pasture and field crops.  Well, unless you have an irrigation system, that is.  

 I don't prune or stake my tomatoes.  I put cages around them to sort of contain them, and that's it.  My mother and grandmother would just let their tomatoes vine out all over the ground.  (You can see the vacated house next door still standing in the background.  I'm crossing my fingers hoping someone buys the property and tears it down.) 

 I finally managed to get some sweet corn to grow.

 Luckily, okra likes things dry, because I've only watered this one time.  At the other end of this row are the earliest beets I planted; they're the ones I'm using from now.

 This Sugar Baby watermelon vine came up volunteer and I decided to let it grow there.

 We're still eating cabbage from the garden almost daily.

 All the tomato vines are loaded.  Good Lord willing, I should have something to can this year.

 We've had ratatouille once this year.

 There are lots of eggplants coming on.  

 Behold my double crop of sweet potatoes... the first order that arrived with only dead plants that resurrected from the dead after I planted them, and the replacement order.  I read that sweet potatoes don't require a lot of water, but just yesterday I bought a new soaker hose and gave them a drink, just in case.  Then it rained.  

We're getting all the cucumbers we can eat, and then some.  From one hill. 

 I had cantaloupe seeds left from last year.

 No need to tell you we have lots of zucchini, right?  

 All eight of my pepper plants are loaded just like this one.  

The hibiscus just started blooming yesterday.  The rain we got last night should keep it blooming for awhile.  
I'm almost afraid to talk about this for fear it will jinx me:  I don't have any idea why the squash bugs haven't made their appearance this year, and I don't know why blight isn't ruining my tomato plants.  It certainly isn't because I've been such a good person this year, and I really haven't done anything different in my gardening methods.  I am thankful every day, but also apprehensive, waiting for that other shoe to drop.  I expect to go to the garden one morning and see half of it dead.  I'm usually a positive person, but this is so unusual that I keep thinking I must be dreaming.  If I am, please don't wake me.