Mid-Summer Square Foot Garden Update

It has been a while since I updated my square foot garden journal.  I have been out of the country visiting my daughter who lives in the Arabian Peninsula.  I left my garden in my husband’s care and it was looking quite nice when I returned from my adventure in the desert.   I left my red checked Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (which I received as a wedding gift in 1979) open to the vegetable freezing time chart as a slight hint for my husband.  He noticed the hint, but simply laughed.  Thankfully, there wasn't enough harvest to need preserving/freezing.  I had thought my corn might get ready while I was gone, but it appears my corn did not make at all.   The stalks look great, but the ears never matured.

Cornstalks looked healthy.  

The ears did not develop very well.
This is one of the bigger ones. 

Most of the ears are small like this one.

This is one of my sad little ears of corn.

 If anyone can tell me why this happened I would be interested in your thoughts. Could a lack of water at the proper time be the reason. I wasn’t here to keep it watered and I know my husband was very busy working night and day at his job.  He watered when he could, but it might have not been at a strategic time.  Of course all my square foot garden naysayers (along with my husband) are blaming my soil depth of only six inches.   Has anyone else in Texas had success in growing sweet corn in only six inches of Mel’s Mix?  Technically, it is Brenda’s Mix.   Living in a rural area, I had difficulty finding five varieties of compost like Mel recommends so I am wondering about the balance of my soil.

 On the upside… My squash plants are going crazy.   Since I was gone, I did not get a chance to train them to grow vertically, so they are growing everywhere.   I really was doubtful I was going to get the plants to grow vertically. I have lots of squash plant for the amount of fruit produced.   I never did a soil test, so perhaps I have too much nitrogen in my homemade soil.   Other plants seem to be doing great.  Everything has just overgrown its assigned space.   My eggplant plants have disappeared underneath the squash. 

I planted two squash plants with zinnias and marigolds.
  I was gone when I should have been training my squash to grow vertically.
By the time I got home it was too late. 

My pole beans seem to have the same problem as the squash. Good plant growth, plenty of blooms, but never enough mature beans to pick a “mess” of beans on one day.  (Does anyone know where that term “mess” of vegetables originated?)  I had to harvest green beans for a week to have enough for two people for one meal. They were delicious though.  Someone with more experience with the SFG method needs to let me know if my expectations are too high.  

While my squash and beans have produced moderately, my grape tomato plant has done better than expected.   The plant is huge and the harvest is plentiful.   So, I ask myself, why won’t my green beans produce more beans?