overgrown and out of control

Having a hoophouse, it turns out, does not make July any less busy. Nor does it corral overgrowing plants that make it hard to even get in the door. We’re getting beans, cukes, tomatoes, banana peppers. We don’t have a ton of any of them – I guess that’s good, but I kind of thought we’d be swimming in beans by now. The leafy stuff – lettuce, spinach, arugula and cilantro – are done now, although i will probably plant more for a fall crop in a couple weeks.

Lessons learned thus far:

• plant no more than 6 tomato plants; keep them mercilessly in check with something stronger than plastic tape
• Tack netting down the middle in a tent shape to give climbing stuff more room to grab on
• plant spinach and lettuce on the east side, where there seems to be more shade (who am I kidding, it’s all shade with the doggone tomatoes gone wild out there)
• reconsider going on vacation??