Oh my garden!

Oh my garden! If it’s not one thing, it’s something else. It finally warmed up this weekend and I noticed some considerable growth in the zucchini plants, the potatoes, and the squash/pumpkins. I have developed an infestation of cucumber beetles which are ravaging my vine plants. I have been following the advice of another unhappy gardener and vacuuming them off the plants early in the morning and right before dark. The beetles have succeeded in destroying the majority of my cucumber plants, most of my watermelons and several zucchini. It seems that there is not really a good way to get rid of them, no sprays or dusts, so hopefully removing them will help.
With all this water, my peas are doing well, but the bean plants are not taking off like I had hoped. The tomatoes and peppers that are in the lower part of the garden seem to be doing well. The older tomato plants are starting to get blossoms, as are the peppers. The young tomatoes were planted just before it began to rain, and rain, and rain and therefore have not taken off yet. With these new tomatoes we tried a different method of planting, burying the entire plant up to the top to promote healthier root growth. We’ll see how it turns out.
I have been weeding the onions, garlic, and carrots to no avail. More than once I have accidentally eliminated a plant that I wanted to keep, so I will stick to light weeding and they will have to fend for themselves. Other than those areas, which cannot be turned or hoed, the weeds in the garden are not too bad. Compared to last year, with our fresh barnyard dirt, I cannot complain.
I estimate that my garden is at least 3 weeks behind last years. We came home from the weekend of July 4th last year to zucchinis and a scattered tomato. This year the zuke plants are just bigger than a sheet of paper. Hopefully, now that it is warming up outside things will start to take off. The forecast says 80’s for the week. If that holds out things might start to perk up!