Polyculture clean up

Not only do I plant my raised beds in a polyculture style, I over plant. For the most part this works very well for me. It takes maintenance, to achieve maximum production. This year has been very strange. We started out much cooler for much longer than "normal". So I planted quite late compared to most years.  Then July came and bought the heat. Record breaking heat, not only high temperature, but consecutive days over 100.  It's been quite miserable.  In spite of the weather, or maybe because of it the garden is doing quite well.  Matter of fact it had become quite a jungle. You literally couldn't see where one bed ends and another begins.  
Today it was in the high 80s.  What a welcome relief.  I was able to get out and do some overdue maintenance.  I tamed tomatoes, removed a gourd vine, and hopefully rescued a watermelon plant.
The guard came with the soil I used from my hugelkulture. It was eatable, but didn't have much flavor, and was so vigorous, it was taking over. I decided to just remove it . I found a hidden cucumber.  I may have a loofah, but that's to be determined.  
The watermelon was doing great, they I noticed the watermelon weren't getting bigger. Unfortunately two had rotten spots, and one seemed ripe so I picked it. It was ok, not great.  I cut the tomato back, I think it was smothering everything else out. I added some organic fertilizer, and compost. We still have a lot of hot weather to come, so maybe I will get a watermelon yet.
The garden looks better, and I think will be healthier.

Beautiful!
I always end up overplanted. Seems to be a flaw or quirk in my personality. Mainly I am unable to thin healthy plants.

Thinning healthy plants is very hard, but when we have more tomatoes then we can eat, and it's killing the watermelon plant we haven't gotten one of, except the one I cut yesterday, that wasn't really done, but with the vine dieing back, and the little curly Q's dying, I figured it was best to harvest it. It may still die, but at least it has a chance to survive, and maybe set a watermelon before it gets cold.
The gourds really aren't that useful.
Zucchini and squash actually do better for me when I remove all the leaves under the zucchini/squash and stake it.
And it opened up some space, which of course I will plant something in.

Amazing before and after pictures. I love your garden! My garden is mostly herbs and aloe vera.

I love seeing different gardens in different regions. So many approaches. Order is necessary for a garden, but like minds, messy ones tend to be a little more interesting. When kids say " this is a magic garden" you know that you are on the right track. Every garden needs an overflow lot for those of us that have trouble de living extras and a place for things to get out of hand.. Theas front yard garden reminds me of gardens in Yuma AZ. A garden is a place for people too bringing sounds of quiet talk, laughter and art. A garden is a place to be. A place to rejuvenate and inspire.

Thea I love your garden, it's so colorful and inviting. It never occurred to me to paint the cement blocks. You have inspired me. I see painting in my future.

I remember the first time I heard the term "polyculture". I had always grown herbs that way, and didn't even know it. Once I started growing veggies in combination, I found a lot of new possibilities. One of my beds is planted in peppers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, Thai basil, Kabocha, beets, and kale. The pic I am attaching shows a bed with peppers, eggplants, cilantro gone to seed, broccoli, basil, zinnias, calendula, sage, and survivor chard that finished seeding and decided to come back for a second round.

Definitely more interesting than monoculture rows. The flea beetles still found my eggplants though.

My garden gets wild and crazy, but I like it.  No system is perfect. Last year I had no bug problems. This year aphids have invaded the beans. I spray them off with the water hose and they are back the next day.  Even though I wish they weren't there, it's not enough to do damage to the beans. I've been thinking about buying some ladybugs. I haven't decided if I will yet. On one hand I think it couldn't hurt, on the other hand change one thing change everything. I always worry about interfering with the balance of nature.  How many times have humans introduced a specie's into an ecosystem only to have it screw up everything and make a new worse problem than they had to start with. I know I'm probably overthinking it, but I always wonder about these things.

I find lady bug umm…  nimphs? in sumac seed heads late fall. If you can wait, instead of purchasing, I would see if that happens in your area as well. If so, harvest a few heads and toss them in your garden. Hopefully, they'll find a safe spot nearby to overwinter.