Playing in the Dirt: Part 5 Resurrection

It's been so long since I updated you on the gardens, I had to go back to see what the last post even said!  Such a slacker.  In all sincerity,with summer vacays and house sitting and all kinds of shenanigans this summer, the poor gardens were left to fend for themselves in the midst of summer heat!  I watered what I could when I could, or mom did, or I texted the boy to water his, they had no stable, consistent person to look after them.  So, by the time the big heat wave hit a few weeks ago, they were in dire straits!  I had decided that was it for the summer crops, cucumbers had gone yellow before I was able to harvest, onions fried in the sun, everything was dried out and brown.
While puppy sitting I was minding a similar garden that was well shaded, in a cooler part of town, and was thriving.  So when I got home I decided this "full sun" indication on the seeds and plant labels was a load of BS!  I grabbed a dilapidated garden umbrella we'd planned to throw out and rolled it over to the veggies in the middle of the yard, they seemed to have the most trouble.  After doing this, off I went to kitty sit for the boy...  Mom was back in town so the watering was not going to be a problem.  I went to work and yoinked out the dry dead stuff in the Boy's garden, the Artichoke kicked the bucket, the second round of onions I planted never emerged (it's a long story) and the pole bean had one more fruitful crop before it croaked. (cooking them was another failed endeavor)  So I was left with ample, happy but kinda crowded tomatoes, garlic, a happy herb garden, and a very sad looking Eggplant, oh and a desperate jalapeno- I suspect the jalapeno knew nobody was that excited about it, and just didn't have the will to make it.
So I watered those, and they seemed grateful, especially the sad sad eggplant, it's doing great now, and whenever it looks droopy I give it a glass of water, it has buds and everything!  By the time I got to Mom's everything was green again!  I couldn't believe it, the weather had bursts of scorching temps and just with some shade and extra evening waterings they really perked up!
So here's some pics of the progress at Mom's.  I wish I had taken photos of what they looked like in the heat wave, but I thought they were done for, and was deciding what to plant next.

Here's the resurrected Veggie Garden, you can see the Butternut Squash is quite pleased with itself, the Strawberries are hanging in there and the Kale finally got bigger

The cucumbers and the eggplants have lots of flowers too, so bring on the bees, lets make some veggies guys!

This is my goofy umbrella but it gives it nice shade in the middle hours of the day, and you can see my critter fence, hope it works.

One of the Yesterday Today and Tomorrow bushes even started getting more flowers this week.

I just think this crazy tangle of Bugambilia, Fig Tree and Grape Vine (from another yard) is so cool!

Compost is going great!  Been throwing peelings, eggshells, coffee grounds, and tons of leaves and clippings in, the bugs and spiders love it, eek!

I've got some beets and red carrot seeds in the ground, and more to plant, I also want to do some swiss chard and sugar snap peas for the boy.  So I'll let ya know how it goes.