These are the Roma and French Yellow beans planted 7/26. My non-scientific assessment is that they are growing much faster than the Spring-planted bean patch, same varieties. The mesclun in the front row is also growing quickly.
Ning's beans are climbing the string trellis. The volunteer that started itself as a "winter sow" produced a small bowl of beans.
The French Yellow and Roma bush beans have been producing for 2 weeks (not pictured). This is the former garlic bed - dug them up 2 weeks ago (also not pictured). Now it's an experiment - will romas and french yellow bush beans produce if seeds are started now? 
Thai pepper. Strange, both are near fig cuttings that I had given up for dead.
Cayenne pepper. One is starting to turn yellow.
The cucumbers are starting to produce. We had one last week.
All of the multiplier onions have fallen over and are drying. So I pulled them up. I'll dry them in the shade - one year I dried shallots in the sun and they all cooked. These are the "white potato onion". I like the flaver - it's different from modern varieties. Maybe more like a shallot, but milder. Plan: save about 6 larger bulbs, and most of the smaller bulbs, since there isnt much to eat on the small ones. Plant thme in september. The rest can be eaten.
Multiplier onions. Here they are drying in the shade.
The first garlic plants are drying out and falling over. These were levtovers from the year before - I did not know they were still in the ground.
Inchelium Red garlic. Not brown yet - I'll wait until they are. Given the size of the plants, I'm hoping for BIG garlic bulbs. This variety is the one that I think I'll keep growing. To the side, potatoes almost ready to bloom. At the rear, Ning's Chinese Beans are climbing their strings.
We have been eating lots of cilantro. This was sown by crushing old flower heads from last year's cilantro, letting the seeds scatter on the mulch. The flower heads were saved by leaving them in the garden shed over the winter, unprotected. The cilantro is flavorful and tender. This method fits into the "cheap+lazy" gardening philosophy. I putter around far too much to be considered lazy, but "virtually no effort" takes up too much room in the labels.
The strawberries hold a lot of promise. The most blooms, ever.
The Inchelium garlic looks like corn plants. No scapes yet.
Several of the tomatoes have flower buds, even though they are only about 9 inches to a foot tall. I've started pinching out the lower branches, to maintain a cordon shape. One grouping had pale leaves - uncelar why, but this area did not get as much chicken compost. I added fish emulsion and added some epson salts for good measure (Mg and sulfur) and the leaves ARE greener today.
We've been eating lots of scallions, both of the 'potato onion' type (my favorite) and the "Egyptian walking onion' type. And some of the 'I don't know what they are' type, that just happened to be left in the ground from previous years. These are perfect for the "cheap+lazy" gardener, since each onion produces sets for next year, at the top of the plant. These can be planted in the fall for early scallions, at zero cost and little effort. If you ignore them, they'll fall over and plant themselves, which is esentially zero effort for the gardener.
Yesterday I planted more of Nings beans. Today I re-stringed their trellises. These are on the South side of the house, so they shade windows in the summer. Also the location is warmer in Spring so they might germinate and grow faster. It's hard to see the trellis - it's just cotton string, and doesn't show well in the photo.
The seeds that I planted were old ones from the bottom of the seed box, so I dont know how old they were. They did swell nicely on soaking. Then I found the package here, probably about 4 years old. So I soaked some of those to plant as well.
Just follow these simple instructions.... Maybe I'll have Ning translate when he returns from China later this month.
The new little Desert King is either quite happy in this location, or it just gets to an earlier start compared to the other fig trees. It looks quite happy.
The garlic is knee high. These are on the south side of the house. The garlic in the front yard (north of house but still in sun) is not as large, but is also not from the 'prime' garlic bulbs (Inchelium red)
Grapes are starting to bloom. This is Venus, but other varietes are not far behind.
The recently planted beans have started to show. These were the Romano Bush Beans planted April 26th. About half are showing now. None of the corn or squash planted that day are up. Yesterday I planted some yellow string bush beans, and more romanos, after an overnight soak. Also replantged the corn after an overnight soak. I suspect the issue is soil temperature, but the soaking probably wont hurt anything and might speed germination. Also today I planted old seeds. I mixed together old packets of lettuce, mesclun, basil, spinach, and vegetable chrysanthemum, then planted thickly. These seeds are anywhere from 1 to 5 years old, and most probably wont grow. I didn't want to waste space for individual trials, so they are all planted together. Of note, this WSU publication gives life expectations for common vegetable seeds. They show lettuce, cucumber, and spinach seeds may be viable for 5-6 years; carrots beans and peas for 3-4 years. Maybe they WILL grow, after all. Oregon State say's don't presoak corn or beans at all - that this method damages seeds! Of note, I did presoak beans last year and they sprouted well, so who knows?
The chickens laid one egg each today. Must be the lengthening days, although I would like to think it is all of the weeds that I have been feeding them!
