Squash

Squash, it turns out, cannot be over watered. This one's soil always felt quite damp, so I only watered it every few days. It grew fine for the first few weeks but once it started to bear fruit the leaves started yellowing and dying. The Internet gave conflicting advice on the watering of squash, with many sites suggesting it should only be watered every two or three days. False. This guy needs plenty of water every day. After I started giving it ~.2 gal/day, its leaves greened up and it is now growing significantly faster than ever before. About 50% of the leaves in the photo have developed in the last two weeks. Squash are supposed to sprawl out to ~10ft, but given the late start and that this one is potted I'm sure it will be much smaller.

Tomatoes

Early on the tomatoes exhibited "leaf curl," which apparently is a common symptom of over-watering. Maybe. Apparently many varieties of garden tomatoes just have a tendency to curl, and it doesn't materially affect the plants. But, at first I backed off the watering since the leaves were curling, which was again a bad idea. The plants themselves haven't grown very fast (relative to the Sungold plant on the next block), and many of the fruits are growing very, very slowly. I've upped their watering and they seem to be doing well, though I won't know for sure if that has helped until later in the season.

Despite having far fewer fruits, the Green Zebra (pictured) is on track to produce first. The Sungold, however, has 3-4x the flowers (50+), so it will probably produce the larger yield. I also didn't get tomato cages until just a few weeks ago. Those are much easier to put in the pot when the plant is small; whoops!

Sunflowers

The sunflowers are getting huge. The biggest are around 4ft tall at this point and they grow ~1"/day. They've been the hardest to mess up. They seem nearly impossible to kill (as long as I give them some water), only growing faster or slower based on the amount of care they get.

I planted them in 3 groups of ~6. A few in each group failed to take root after sprouting so I had to sow new seeds in their place. These new plants were growing a few weeks behind its siblings and thus generally crowded for light. Interestingly, they've raced taller, faster, at the expense of a thiner and weaker stem. A few of them needed steaks to stay upright, but as they've got more sun they've grown stronger.

Broccoli, Spinach, and Lettuce

The side garden has worked out okay. The spinach bolted really early (~week 6) and was eaten; it really should be in a place that doesn't get too much direct sun (or perhaps pulled and re-sown frequently?). The lettuce is ready to be eaten, just as soon as my housemates or I actually make a salad at home. It turns out they grow really big and need to be quite far apart, I'd say 24" or more. The broccoli seemed to flower early and produce small heads, but Mike said they were good. They're very delicate plants, I'm not sure I'd grow them again without an, e.g. flower bed where they would be more protected.

Corn

The corn is definitely the most anticipated crop of the yard. I read online that they need plenty of water, at least 1"/week. False. They need more. I carefully gave them 8gal/day (which works out to 1"/week) and they remained healthy but many were growing very slowly. The ones in sunken portions of the garden (where water tended to pool) grew noticeably faster than the others. I've at least doubled their water (now using the hose, so not sure of the exact amount), and they are all growing much faster. The bigger ones are now growing between 0.5-1"/day. I think the corn will come in later than the early Aug I was anticipating.

A ridiculous number of poppies grew naturally with the corn (the orange flowers). I've left them in because they look nice, but periodically thinning them to keep them from overcrowding the corn. Over three thinning sessions, I've probably pulled 100lbs of poppies. They grow like weeds, but at least they look nice. The bees really love them. I water before I leave for work and will routinely see ~50 bees hopping from flower to flower.