IMHO

I think fresh grass clippings make the best mulch for garden beds.  Not only do they create a dense mat that discourages weeds, as the clippings decompose, they heat up enough to kill weed seeds.  Summers have been so dry in recent years that I have not had much grass to mow, but this spring was wet enough to produce a decent amount of mulch.  For this, I am grateful.  Not that my garden is weed-free, mind you, but with grass clippings I have a fighting chance.

All those weeds come in handy, though, because I pull them up and pile them up in my compost bins, and they magically turn into this:

Black gold!

My current dilemma is that I don't seem to have much time to cook.  I am looking forward to using some of this garlic:

It is curing in the shed, soon to be joined by the onions

which are starting to topple.  (Notice the weeds, most of which are growing in the path.  I'm thinking they need to be smothered with cardboard.)

Today I harvested the first handful of green beans, but what I am really looking forward to is zucchini

and cukes.

Planting the beans inside of the pea fence was not the best idea.  They are protected from rabbits, but the peas shaded them enough that they grew quite leggy.  The cukes I planted at either end of the pea fence, so they can grow up instead of sprawling on the ground.  This works quite well.

My SO helped construct a raised bed by the patio.  The wood was leftover from another project that never got off the ground.  Since it is treated with some unknown preservative, we lined the walls with plastic.

The castle block is to help level the thing; I plan to disguise it with potted herbs.  The fill is part dirt from where my neighbor dug a fire pit, part peat, and part grass clippings.  When the potatoes in the grow sacks are done, that soil will be added as well.

The weather has been ridiculously hot and humid lately and is effectively making me a prisoner of my AC.  The to-do list for this year has been whittled down significantly, but where there is a weed, there is a way to make me feel guilty for not doing more.  I hope it rains tomorrow and cools off a bit.