What do vacations do to a garden?

Taking a summer vacation can be a risky business for gardeners. Ours was last week, and the before-travel preparations seemed to have worked  fairly well. I placed layers of newspaper around all the tomato plants to keep weeds out: a complete success. I should have done between the rows too! The automatic sprinkler kept the garden happy through a weather hot spell. I was glad to see that the tomatoes, peppers,cucumbers, and melons all have blossoms & I can't wait for the fruit. The insecticidal soap I used seems to have worked for the most part; some of the tomatoes have damage on their lower branches which I will have to look at more closely and try to treat. The herb garden is completely overtaken with weeds,the result I fear of neglecting to mulch as I should have. And my front yards flower beds look (as my daughter eagerly pointed out) like a suburban jungle. But at least everything is GROWING. Hurray!