August

 The middle of August is generally the time when things begin to burn out and look awful.  That's not really the case this year.  We have had a rather cool summer with enough rain but not too much.  We are a little below average for precipitation.

The two beds of buckwheat cover crop came out two days ago.  I cut one and pulled the other.  There were too many weeds to ignore in the bare bed but I put the cut stalks in the compost bin.

The cucumber vines are tired but not dead.  They are not a all diseased.  Sometimes they get wilt and die over night. Sometimes they just sort of fade away.  I have left them because there are still a few good cucumbers in there that will be appreciated all the more at the end of the season.

The cantaloupe vines are also fading but if they didn't it would be impossible to find the fruit.

...more than two dozen melons.

I lift the oldest ones each day waiting for them to slip off the stem.

The Clarimore zucchini plant is looking as fresh as it did in June and producing a squash every couple of days.

The fall lettuce bed is growing well.

And now for some pretty flowers

My baby Sahara Rudbeckia that I started from seed this spring

Not bad for August

Rainy Monday

 Our county is finally off of the Abnormally Dry list on the Drought Monitor.  Yay!  I am enjoying a peaceful rainy Monday morning knowing that the bulk of my garden work is done for now.

Of course, as I've said before, when you get rain you also get rain related cleanup.  The middle of last week we got a surprise downpour of two and a quarter inches which was more rain in a few hours than we got for the month of either July or August.  What was no surprise is what it did to the Buckwheat.  I would rather not clean it up in this condition, and a few years ago this sight would have hit me in the gut.  But experience tells me it really isn't any more work to deal with it in this condition than it is standing straight up.  You just have to get on with it.

I had Buckwheat in all stages of development.  The nice short, fresh bed was also slated for cutting before it flowered.  I just hate taking such a scrumptious meal away from the pollinators.  So it was either cut it before it flowered and they found it or wait weeks for it to go to seed.  I'd rather cut it now.  I feel much less cold hearted about it at this stage.

Below is the wild and wooly bed after about 15 minutes of cutting and tidying.

Below is a bed that was cut a couple of weeks ago and covered with compost.  You can see a few seedlings coming through because the buckwheat went to seed before I cut it.  I just rake those over before they get too big.

Last year's compost is almost used up.  I've had just enough to cover every bed with a deep layer.  

It is in beautiful condition.  I just run it through the screen....

...and throw the uncomposted pieces back into the tubes on top of green material.

Hard to believe that last year this was branches and kitchen scraps and piles of garden waste.

The beds are surprisingly weed free after the crop is removed.  There are a few to pull, but not many.

I shovel a wheelbarrow full into each bed

and screed it flat with a landscape rake.

I use a hose to wash any over fill back into the bed, clean things up, and fill in the edges.

The beds are clean and ready for winter.  The earthworms and insects will have plenty to eat.

One bed still has some marigolds in it.  I cut the Buckwheat and layed it down then moved the potato grow bags onto it to help rot down the buckwheat faster,  The potatoes will stay in the soil until frost then the soil will be dumped out into the dirt locker for reuse next year.

And now some pictures of pretty things

Gitt's Crazy Dahlia

Lady Darlene Dahlia

Peaches and Dreams Dahlia

HS Date Dahlia

Winding Down - August on the Way Out

 It is beginning to feel a bit fall-like out there.  The nights are cool again.  The daytime skies are full of high, cumulous clouds.  The garden is winding down.  I am starting to mulch the empty beds with compost in preparation for winter.

The tomato plants are getting a good pruning.  At this point I am not looking for any new set fruit.  I just want the large tomatoes to ripen on the vine.

Things are starting to look a little tired.  

The cantaloupes continue to be outstanding.  Each one is sweeter than the last.

This is the time of year when the Marigolds really shine.

They keep me from wanting to buy Mums.

Strawberry Blonde

Disco Mix

Vanilla

At this point I have three beds completely put to bed.  Two beds half done half producing.  Four beds in Buckwheat ready to trim.  I have the pole beans that could be pulled but I am picking a meal from them now and then.  One corn bed is drying in preparation for the chipper shredder and one bed of corn is ready to start picking.

The Rain Makes a Mess of Things

 Rain is wonderful stuff, I've had to water a lot less, and my water tank is full.  But with rain you get rain related maintenance that has to be done.  

Can you see the two Bumble Bees embedded in this flower?
They are sheltering from the all night rain.

The ornamental grasses are just now "flowering" and any rain can lay them out flat in every direction.

A quick tie with some twine will straighten things up until they dry.

This big grass below (five feet tall) was over flat on its side yesterday.  I hurried to get a pitchfork and shook all of the water out.  Then I bear-hugged it into a piece of twine.

I wish I had trimmed the Buckwheat before this happened but I was waiting on the next bed to come into full bloom.

I went ahead and trimmed it today.  The pollinators simply moved on but they weren't as happy with the little flowers as they had been with the mature ones.

The monster tomato plant is now a weeping tomato plant.  It won't hurt it much.  There wasn't much to be done.  I could have put a tie around it at seven feet, but the support isn't that tall and if the top started to lean it could have pulled the whole thing over.

Harvest time again.  Just in time for the next rainstorm.

This corn is absolutely gorgeous.  We have picked 28 ears so far.  I'm expecting to get four dozen from this one bed.  These went straight to the freezer.

Perfect pollination!

The Fall Garden

 September has arrived with cool nights and clear, warm, dry days.  Such a welcome relief from the hottest August on record.  That's what the Buffalo weather man said and although our weather is not always the same as Buffalo's, I'm not going to dispute it.  It was HOT.  What a Summer.  First we get the wettest July on record and then the hottest August.  Stick a fork in me I'm done!

I have a nice, fresh little fall garden going with beans, cabbage and lettuce.  Although at this point in the year I am looking forward to the garden winding down, it is always nice to have a little something looking young and perfect.  These are Jade bush beans.  I planted them two seeds together and put grow thru grids on them and today I pulled the grids further up the plant to support them better.  They are over knee high and beginning to bean.  They will produce until frost and I am prepared to put a frost cover on them.  Right now they are covered with insect mesh because of the Cabbage.

Such a tidy little bed with leaf mulch

A nice lush Jade Bean Plant

Violaceo de Verona Cabbage

Some wittle bitty lettuces transplanted yesterday

Mahon Yam Sweet Potato wooly monster

Clarimore Summer Squash almost ready to flower

Half of my garden beds are resting already so I am half way to being buttoned up for winter.

Potato bed resting with Buckwheat cover crop

Sweet Corn bed mulched and resting.
I covered it with burlap to prevent the shredded corn stalk mulch from
blowing aroundespecially when we begin blowing leaves.

Lima Bean Bed
It is time to start picking these, one month later than their specified maturity date.
Because they twiddled around growing into monsterous vines for so many weeks!

The Cucumber Bed looking a little ragged

But producing just fine.
Marketmore Cucumber

Sweet Corn Bed resting with mulch
and a few lettuce plants.  I still am considering it at rest.

Pea Bed resting with Buckwheat cover crop
I cut the buckwheat down last week and am expecting it to reseed itself.

Cauliflower Bed resting with Buckwheat cover crop

Broccoli and Cabbage Bed still at work under there

Fall Garden with Beans and Cabbages

Pole Bean Bed catching its second wind

Summer Squash Bed resting with Buckwheat cover crop

Old Bean Bed producing heavily.
These plants are pretty gnarly and I am looking forward to pulling them out.

Not a pretty time of year for tomato plants

I started digging potatoes out of the Tater Patch
because I need to overwinter some perennials there

We added topsoil to the transition between the lawn and the tree project.
We're looking forward to being done with this for the year.

The Profusion Zinnia bed

I pulled some tired Petunias out of the Whiskey Barrels
and replaced them with untrimmed 6" Mums from Home Depot

There is still plenty of things to do out there right now.  I am beginning to divide daylilies and I have some mail order perennials one their way.  At least I can do my gardening without melting every day.