More on the Bird Bath

I finally unmolded the bird bath I'd poured a few weeks ago:

I am pleased with the result. It's got the good shape I was hoping for. My only problem is that the bottom ended up uneven, as if there was a "bubble" between the outer and inner saucer when it was curing.  So I've spread a layer of mortar down to even it out a bit.  I need the surface as smooth and even as possible so that the mosaic isn't a pain.

Something's Brewing

Zucchini aside, I'm finally starting to see signs of veggies in the garden.

These carrots are right at the 58 days it says on the package.  This is the biggest one, and they're in varying sizes smaller:

I think I'll leave them in the ground until we get back from Idaho, since it would be a shame to harvest and then not eat them.

This cucumber is actually smaller than the photo makes it look.  I've got lots of them on these two vines, but most don't seem to have pollinated, thus they'll shrivel up and die.  That's okay.  In my house, people get tired of cucumber fast, so I wasn't going for a big harvest.

I don't trellis my cucumbers.  Instead, I let them trail over the side onto the rock.

My beans are finally starting to show.  I can't wait to have my first dish of these.  In another spot in the garden, I planted a small succession planting of them, just to stretch out my bean harvest as long as possible.

And lastly, I'm finally starting to see signs of tomatoes.  Though my plants are much more vigorous this year than last, I think I had more green tomatoes at this time of year.  Lots of people are complaining about plenty of flowers but no fruit.  I'm hoping this is the end of our funky weather and we'll start seeing some production.

Most prolific are these Juliets:

Then the early tomatoes I thought for sure would be a failure are coming around.

Fungus Among Us

This year, my tomatoes are trying hard to succumb to fungus.  I've been pulling off black spotted leaves for a couple weeks now, trying to stay head.  Today I sprayed with copper foliage spray and also thinned out the plants to try to get the most air circulation around them.  I've been trimming up the bottoms so that when I do any hose watering, wet leaves are minimal.

I've also got what looks like rust on my beans.  I had this last year, but since I had the copper spray out, I gave them a blast too.  I don't think I'll be able to eliminate any of this completely.  My hope is to simply stay ahead of it so I don't lose any crops entirely.