After a bit of a late start, the tomatoes caught up. I’ve done more than 10 quarts of salsa, 12 quarts of tomato juice, crushed tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, and I still have counters full of tomatoes! I didn’t cage or trellis my tomatoes this year, so they are just lying on the ground. The slugs love that. I’m not too sad about it though, because they’ve let plenty for me.

Here’s the swales:

Really, I’ve been happy about how they turned out. Last year I planted some squash out here and it all died by mid-summer for various reasons. This year everything has done just great. And the irrigation system is amazing. Flood irrigation is often difficult to work with, but the swales are a perfect match. I just have to turn the gate twice a week, and it fills ups nicely. I never have to adjust it, worry about low or high water volume, and nothing has dried out.

The fennel in the herb spiral has flowered, and the seeds are almost ready to pick. I might have enough fennel seed to last the next 20 years, it’s not a herb I use frequently. Well, actually, I don’t really use any herb that frequently. Something to work on.