Zinnias, tomatoes, herbs, and an empty pot.

One of the pumpkin plants has grown over the railing of the deck, and the vine extends all the way to ground level. I searched all over Ames to find some kind of material to use as a trellis. Finally, I found exactly what I needed at the Ace hardware store. It was a roll of plastic, landscape fence. I anchored it to the top of the railing and staked it to the ground.

I am learning a lot about pumpkins this summer: there are both male and female flowers, and there can be many promising small pumpkins, less than one inch in diameter, but that most of them have withered. I toss them in them in the compost pile. One pumpkin per plant has survived.

My neighbor, Hong, had too many eggplant plants and gave me one to grow on my deck. It sits in the middle of the herbs ... basil, cilantro, dill, lavender, tarragon,  and and thyme.