So while we’ve had a few problems this year (see also: rabbit in fenced garden, bugs) it’s turning out to be an amazing year:
We’ve lost a couple of squash plants – due to powdery mold, bugs or both, it’s not clear, but we’ve successfully harvested zucchini pretty consistently since the middle of July. Of our 6 plants, 3 are producing – all zucchini – and we’re keeping up with consuming what we’re picking. We’ll stick with the 6 plant plan for next year, because if everything does well we’ll have to give stuff away even at that low number. We’ve come quite a way from the days of 6 of both types of plants. Those were some dark times – for us, and the neighbors.
The tomatoes this year are amazing. Our sungold plants are over 6 feet tall, and so heavy we’ve taken to leaning the cages against the fence and lashing them in place:
Our peas this year have been somewhat anemic – Mr. Big Pea produced enough peas for a sandwich bag, and the sugar snap lagged further behind that. Which is interesting, given that we rotated them to a different part of the garden and we used a soil inoculant to help the plants live longer. Currently they start to die off just as the pods begin to form, so instead of being indeterminant, we get one harvest. J yanked out all the Mr. Big Pea plants earlier this week and planted a second crop, something we’ve never done before. We estimate about 7 to 8 weeks before we’re at a huge risk for frost, although the last 2 years we’ve had snow near Halloween, which is about twelve weeks away. We had the seeds for planting, so we figured we’d give it a shot. Also planted this weekend – the third crop of lettuce, and more parsley, cilantro and basil. I’ve picked pretty much what we have, so if I want stuff for the fall, I had to replant. I’m also hoping for enough basil to do a little pesto this year, and freeze it.
We’ve had a lot of rain this summer, punctuated but spells of hot, sunny weather, which has been enormously helpful to the garden, and to our non-farmed yard. It has never looked this nice this late in the summer since we moved in. And as I write this, it’s raining again, after a week of sunny 80-something days:
I’m sure in years to come we will look back on this season fondly. Except for the peas. And that rabbit.