Garden Explosion and a Surprise

Time to step away from travel posts for a minute and talk about how my garden took off while we were gone.

I am now getting plenty of tomatoes for fresh eating, and I am close to having enough paste tomatoes for a huge batch of salsa.

On the way to let the dogs out, I noticed something new.  Actually,  I heard it before I saw it.

Yes, while I was gone, my friend came over and installed a fountain for us!  It was a surprise,  and I burst out laughing,  because I knew exactly what had happened.   My dear friend Jennifer had offered me the fountain a few weeks ago, but I didn't think I would get around to painting it and installing it, so I turned her down. So she did it all for me!

The sunflowers started blooming!  And my beloved Mexican sunflowers, too!  Some can be seen behind the yellow sunflowers, and there are some at the end of the picture below:

The sweet potatoes have gone crazy.  They are spilling out everywhere,  including onto the deck:

They are quite pretty.  I hope they are developing underground as well as they are above ground.