Spring 2015 Garden - Who will win?

The rain has been wonderful for our part of the world, and for our garden.  But will the fruits/vegetables win, or will the weeds?  Now there's the question.  It's been soooo wet and muddy that the weeds are also growing well and we haven't spent the time outdoors tackling the weeds.  When I get a few moments, I try to give space to certain plants, but in no way do I have a handle on the whole garden space.  (J has even been spending a few minutes every morning weeding around good plants, but it only puts a dent in the mass of weeds.)  Note, there is a lot growing on out there... this post is very picture heavy.

Let's start with a view from the porch... looks nice and green, doesn't it?  Can you spot the hidden surprise in the third picture?

Now we'll go in for some close-ups starting with the back, left corner.

What was originally created to be 'the digging spot' for the kids - currently a total weed garden/jungle.

J asked that we plant milkweed this year.  Pretty little flowers, aren't they?

Plum tree - Looks VERY healthy and has grown a lot.  Sadly, still no plums this year.

Compost bin on the left, weeds, weeds, more weeds, and then the compost turner on the right

Moving to the middle of the garden, straight back from the porch.

Persimmon tree

I have seen 2 persimmons growing on the tree this year.  Here is one of them.

Garlic (amidst weeds) - I probably need to be harvesting these soon

Shallots (amidst weeds) - I've been using the tops as green onions as needed (which is frequently)

In front of the garlic and shallots are our three blueberry bushes.  They seem to be doing well, but I think we are going to move them to the porch today to give them a chance to dry out a bit, as more rain is expected.  

Sweetheart has a few blueberries growing.

A pomegranate bush/tree plant that was given to us.  (Can you see the hidden object in this picture?) 

Now on to the right back corner, near the kids' playhouse.

J says these are watermelon plants (amidst weeds).  I'm not sure if that is true, but they have pretty yellow flowers.  :)

Tomato plant one... not sure why it stopped growing up and is now growing out, but we do have a few tomatoes coming already.

On the other hand, this tomato plant is growing crazy tall already.

A patch of mammoth sunflowers

Here is what is on the right side of the garden.

bell pepper plant #1 (with 2 peppers growing)

We have a bell pepper plant #2, but I guess I didn't take a close-up of it.  I can't tell you which is which, but one is supposed to produce bell peppers that are red, one yellow, and one orange.

bell pepper plant #3

Lima beans in front of the bell pepper plants.  (Last year, I was smart and planted bush beans... these ones aren't the bush variety... we shall see how that goes.) 

And this, my friends... is this the grape vine that we had completely given up on?!  We don't know, but it is our best guess.  It seemed to appear out of nowhere.  

Part of the carrot patch (before J weeded this morning)

Chives and Thyme... Money may not grow on trees, but you can grow thyme!  (tee, hee)

Basil

I thought it might be fun to grow potatoes... without really researching the how of it all.  *sigh*  I am not really expecting great production from these, but oh well.

And as usual, we have plenty of rogue tomatoes growing here there and everywhere.