~September’s Garden~

 {week two}

{week four}

My inability to get it together this month has manifested itself once again. This time in the form of neglect and failure not only in the garden but also in the photographing of it since it would seem that I missed a couple of weeks.

As the squash all died back, great patches of weeds took over not to mention the ones growing amongst the popcorn.

Most of my attempts at a fall crop have been abysmal failures. The broccoli, cabbage, and kale no sooner sprang up but were eaten down by the cabbageworms. Number one garden improvement on my list for next year are row covers. The lettuce & peas are coming along slowly, but surely and I haven’t given up on them yet.

Also on my loser list are the potatoes. We put five pounds in and got five pounds out. Half of which had wire worm damage. We were trying an experiment this year whereby we grew half traditionally in the ground and half in a bag. The yield was identical. Unless you account for the wireworms that  invaded the ground patch and ate holes all through the tubers and had to be thrown away. I did read that often happens when they’re planted in newly turned soil, which ours was this year. My husband votes for the traditional method next year since it is less work. But since I did all of the back-breaking hilling this year while he mixed the peat and compost in a wheelbarrow, rolled up the bag a level, and shoveled it in the bag a couple of times, I would tend to disagree. I’m good with either option next year so long as he does the hilling & digging when the time comes.

The summer squash has all been pulled this week (after the photo). They were still flowering, but the stalks looked mangled and shredded. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some squash vine borer action going on there. But with like a 135 pounds – yes you read that right, that’s with a jaw dropping one hundred– of zucchini alone, I’m good with that.

Among the winners this month are tomatoes and peppers. I’ve never successfully grown a pepper so to have done it from seed and get several pounds of produce is pretty exciting to me. The tomatoes are steadily churning out veggies, and I’ve gotten over my tomato envy I was experiencing earlier this summer as everyone else’s plants seemed to have a head start on mine. They are all done and ripped from the ground, while mine aren’t through yet. I’m canning them using some of Gina’s tips to make the most lovely tomato sauce, and also some salsa from Small Batch Preserving, and tomato soup.

Another winner, although not edible, has been my morning glories.

Maybe a little too successful, don’t you think?

I was over zealous this year with them, starting about 30 from seed. You see, I have had grand visions in years past of morning glories twining and climbing not only over this arbor, but also over my porch swing, and along the white picket fence lining the driveway. The seedlings always do really well, but then every year they grow about an inch after I transplant and die. This year, the seedlings tanked! I think I had about five. I planted them all around the arbor leading into the garden and well, you can see what happened.

To gain admittance, I need to tuck away all of the tendrils forming a curtain wall of morning glories. You can hardly see the flowers through all of the foliage. I don’t know what I did right this year, but I hope to repeat it next year except I’ll only put one on each side.

So that’s September’s garden. I’m really looking forward to seeing what I’ll get out of the sweet potatoes in October. And the popcorn. The children are dying to try the popcorn. It’s pretty exciting that even though the temperatures are dropping lower and lower, the vegetable garden is still turning out delicious food!!