I was going to take some photos and post. I put the batteries in the recharger and a couple of days later pulled them out to load in the camera and realized that they weren't rechargeable. A lot of chemical goo from the "heavy duty" batteries that I put in by mistake.

The lettuce is about over and beginning to seed.
The squash is beginning to produce.
No tomatoes yet.
Basil (2 types), parsley, cilantro and mint (2 types) doing OK.. Oregano, thyme and rosemary and settling in.
Lost 2 of 4 strawberry plants, probably lack of water.
Blueberry and blackberry bushes growing but no fruit.
I fertilized the lime, lemon and orange trees with compost about 2 weeks ago.

When I find some batteries or buy a new recharger I will take some shots.

Was someone watering while you were on your trip?

Yes. We usually find college age daughters of our friends to house sit for us. Primarily to take care of the cat, who doesn't like cat jails and then the house and our minature garden. She did a good job. The loss of plants was on my watch. It's like they look fine in the morning and by the time I come home from work and in 80-90F heat, they've keeled over. Doh!

I've been running a really interesting experiment. I read a lot of the harvesting blogs and saw that a lot of the vintners pulled the "suckers" off of their vines. Soooo, in a tale of two jalapeno plants, I've let one grow untreated and I've pulled all leaves/growth off the other's "trunk". The plant I've left alone had 4 giniormous jalapenos growing on it, probably halfway through it's cycle. The one I've trimmed has not blossommed once... but it is literally twice the size of the other plant and has new growth all over the place. Interesting comparison. It's been a realllllly strange summer here (was in the 50's today AM), so who knows what's to blame?

Lavender is growing out of control, as is the purple sage. Rosemary is respectable, golden sage is growing slowly. Tomato plants were planted in an awful place and I have one, solitary tomato that looks more like a squash. Yeah. Lavender, anyone? 

I harvested about 200 (that is not a misprint) of grape and cherry tomatoes over the weekend. I also picked about 8 japanese eggplant, the last of the kale, maybe two dozen small hot peppers, 4 odd shaped cucumbers and one gorgeous slicing tomato (only 3-4 more on the way, I must have dreamed about the bumper crop) that went straight on to a fine, fine, FINE BLT. Thinned out some other plants I grew from seed as an experiment (beets, fennel, etc) and whacked some plants that just never made it because they got eaten alive (leaves got eaten like crazy). I *might* get one savoy cabbage at the end of the day if I am lucky. Potato plants look like they might make something yet. Red onions should have been thinned long ago so I pulled up what was there (not much bigger than pearl sized onions) and I am drying them a bit now.

I'm using fozen in place herbs... the chives do really well as they are next to the house and don't get buried in snow or exposed to the wind. Rosemary, thyme also good, but the parsleys are toast.

My tomatoes took a dive but are coming back now. We have a very nice fall season before it gets colder. The bell peppers and jalepenos are running amok. Note that we won't be growing jalepenos again as they are scary hot. As in can't eat them hot or your mouth will explode. We have lots of rosemary as they are bedding plants that the deer don't eat and don't need much water. I'm thinking about planting some lettuces.