I will admit that my hay bale garden has gone farther than I truly expected it to. To my amazement, we have actually gathered a substantial amount of produce, mostly cucumbers, but nevertheless, actual produce! 
Folks, I’m here to say the newness of this foray into home-grown veggies has not lessened. No, not one bit. I am still as excited now as I was when I put the first plant into the first bale and after this year I will henceforth refer to myself as a newbie veggie gardener no longer. I shall call myself a 2nd year novice. Yep. I earned that. And I will continue to stroll the garden 2-3 times a day (or more) and gaze at nature’s process lovingly, dutifully inspect foliage and fruit, and gauging growth. I hope that this time next year I will feel the exact same way as I do this very moment. Exhilarated. What can I say? My heart makes a direct connection from what I see in the garden to what my soul feels and knows to be true. Oh, that God. He is amazing isn’t He? Applying God to the equation of gardening makes this process more than just simple gardening. It calls in the universe, creation, and divine mercy. Ok, I sound kind of crazy but that’s not important. In the world we live in today, it takes eyes of faith to see anything good these days. And the eyes of my heart and soul receive this gift of the garden with thanksgiving. It is an honor to pick cucumbers and tomatoes. Simply an honor.
The hay bales are holding up well. If you recall from a few posts ago, I was supposed to use straw bales but was unable to locate any in our area, so hay bales it is. We have had an incredibly rainy season so I haven’t had to water the garden but one time. Kind of makes me feel silly since I adjusted the layout of the bales to accommodate keeping a soaker hose covering the top of each bale and not the ground. My tiny garden looks like a maze instead of the straight north to south rows. Next year I will make the adjustments to the soaker hose instead of the bale placement. It will look better that way. (and I will be a second year garden novice, therefore, more experienced, lol)
Another change I plan to make will be placement of the plants into the bales. This year it was easy to go crazy dropping a plant into every available place. Suffice it to say, I was a bit over zealous with plant placement. Those bales are packed. Just about ever inch is covered. Couple that with the fact that we have had far more rainy days than sunny ones, and the outcome is perhaps a bit over crowded. I’d say so. Who knew cucumbers could run around in circles, or that cherry tomato plants could grow eight feet tall?
strawberries peeking out from under the green beans
Those are cherry tomatoes? Holy Cow!
I was told to expect mushrooms growing in the bales. Harmless but not good to eat.
I’ve had a few let downs, but I chalk it up to experience. The bell peppers are almost non existent. Bummer. And so far I have only been able to save one eggplant before finding and deleting the voracious green offender.
Yes, I did smash that ugly worm. I’m sorry. Don’t eat my eggplants!
I’ve had a lot of success I think. I’ve harvested enough basil to dry and fill half a baby food jar. believe it or not, that’s a lot of basil! And chopped green onion tops, got a bag full of ’em in the deep freezer. Oh, and guess what? I harvested enough cucumbers to make 24 pints of pickles!! Yes! I did! My first time ever! And it’s only the beginning. Thank You God.
NanTubreUnlimited 
Well you sure have had fun this year. I am so glad you are enjoying gardening. I sort of enjoyed growing cherry tomatoes, lemon cucumber and purple peppers the one year I did it but I have never done it again. By the way, purple peppers are not that good!!!