Know When to Say "When" - Succession Planting

 Succession planting is something I strongly believe in.  I almost always plant more than one variety/source of seed in more than one place at more than one time.  When you do that you increase you chances exponentially that one of those combinations will work. That way when the bush beans are a disappointment, the pole beans make up for it.  And maybe one kind of cauliflower tastes too strong but the other is sweet.  Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

To take advantage of all of the benefits of succession planting you have to go ahead and tear out a crop when it has run its course.  Before it starts to look shabby and comes down with some disease and stops producing.  That can be hard to do especially if you have been looking forward to something that isn't doing well and you feel the need to limp it along no matter how bad it looks just so you get that one special tomato.  I got over that a few years ago.  It took a decade, but I got there. I don't know if you can see the change in green tone from the plant at the bottom of the photo to the plant in the middle of the bed.

The older cucumber vines are starting to peter out.  The blossoms are smaller and fewer and are not being fully pollinated as the bees move on to greener pastures.  The leaves are bleaching out.  There are few dead leaves at the base.   They are ready to come out before they begin to succumb to disease and spread it to the neighbors.  The plant at the bottom of the photo is a few weeks younger, in the prime of production and deserves a chance to stand on its own.

Out they go.  There are plenty of fresh cucumbers waiting.

I also got rid of this miserable looking patio tomato plant.  I picked all of the fruit and tossed it.  I have a second, later variety just now starting to produce and those tomatoes (Isis Candy) are much tastier anyway.  This plant was very productive but never looked happy.  I had the same variety on the same pot last year and it was happy.  But this was an awful dry year and watering was a challenge.

I don't think the garden has ever looked nicer in August than it does this year.

The sweet corn is a huge presence and we are enjoying wonderful, sweet, large eared corn which is all we could have hoped for and more.

Gotta Have It grows eight feet tall!

The pole beans are also a huge presence along with the zucchini jungle.  The vacant beds have been seeded with Buckwheat cover crop which keeps them green and protected from the harsh sun.

Elsewhere in the garden, it's butterfly season.  Yesterday I saw seven different varieties.  Two blacks, one was a Red Spotted Purple and the other was pretty battered appeared to be a Spicebush Swallowtail.  Its hard to tell the blacks apart.  There was also a Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, a couple of Monarchs, a large Fritillary and various White Cabbage and Yellow Sulphurs.  Then I spotted a Viceroy.

Monarch (left) and Viceroy (right)

I only learned about the Viceroys a few years ago when I told my neighbor who raises Monarchs that "I saw a pony sized Monarch".  She set me straight.  These are Viceroys.  They look almost like a Monarch but are only about three quarters the size.  They also have fewer white spots and an extra black line on their lower wing.  The photo above shows the difference in size.  I cut the center out to put them side by side for size comparison.

This is the original photo, Monarch, Fritillary White Cabbage and Viceroy.