Graden Buzz, Today's Harvest

It is hard to believe my gardening season is coming to an end, since the melons and winter squash won't be producing things should start winding down soon . Time to start thinking about where to put the cold frame, and what to plant in it. I am thinking Chard and carrots. Speaking of carrots, check out the photos below:

This is the potato/carrot bed back in late June. Going from left to right we have some herbs and a few measly carrots coming up; potatoes; sweet potatoes and my son's sunflower from school in the corner.

Wow have the carrots grown in! Anyone remember how frustrated I was by carrots earlier in the season? LOL, no more! (These photos were taken from inside the garden unlike the one above.)

And here is the gargantuan sunflower and the sweet potato vines, which are reaching over into the now foliage free potato bed. I still have some potatoes in the ground, maybe just over half have been harvested to date. What a change compared to the first photo huh? I find it funny to see the formerly full section empty, and the other two full of green.

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The onions are done. Quite a bit smaller than I was expecting, nothing close to those grocery store sweet onions. Better luck next year I hope! (That is if I decide they are worthy of their garden space.)

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I pulled 4 carrots up- here they are below in order. Finally, a winner!!!

I found a few more lovely carrots in the 'carrot jungle', along with lots of tomatoes, a large zuke, a couple cukes, some chili peppers and another super-tasty Carmen sweet pepper, and a handful of beans the beetles didn't beat me to. Oh, and some basil,.........

....and the first Red Cloud potato harvest!

Very exciting stuff here folks!

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On to the garden buzz:

The Orb spiders have taken over my garden. It is getting tricky to pick around their webs.

I always have the urge to rub their cute, fuzzy, bumble buts, however after doing this once as a kid I now resist said urge.

My little man's sunflower is in full bloom, it's gorgeous!

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Lastly, some pictures of what Late Blight looks like on a tomato plant:

These are two affected leaves from the top.

The tell-tale powdery underside of the water stained looking lesions:

I ultimately decided not to spray for blight since removing affected leaves by hand seems to be keeping it in check. It is of coarse continuing to spread, but at a controllable rate. Eventually this will change and the whole lot will require immediate disposal.

The SVB are slowly destroying my precious squash. The fruit is shriveling and rotting right off the vine. Very sad. I took some pictures but find it too depressing to look at. Also very sad is the fact that my female muskmelon flowers continue to rot instead of forming fruit. The bumble bee pictured above was on a blossom, so lack of pollination shouldn't be the culprit. Maybe there is some disease that causes this that I am unaware of??

I ripped out most of the cucumber plants and bolting lettuce today. The beets I sowed along with the carrots many weeks back have failed to germinate. That or I pulled them thinking they were weeds. Anything is possible. 8) I am very curious to see what comes home with me from the CSA today, last week was pathetic once again. I brought only a plastic grocery bag with me, and it wasn't even full when I left. I will greatly miss the blueberries though, I am figuring last week was their finale.

Edit: The Farmer's Almanac is showing 27 days until Autumn. (Me frowning.) Also,Today in History:
The Nineteenth Amendment was adopted, granting women the right to vote. It was nicknamed the "Anthony" amendment in recognition of the lobbying efforts of suffragette Susan B. Anthony, 1920.

Thanks to Susan B. Anthony and all others in securing me the right to vote!

Yesterday's Garden Walkthrough

When I went out yesterday morning to do some watering and harvesting I found a honey bee doing a dance in this squash blossom. Of course I didn't have my camera and by the time I had retrieved it the fella was gone. Moments later another bee arrived. I am not sure what type this one is though.

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This is the bushy, furry asparagus bed with a handful of dahlias thrown in. I peered in around back, and sure enough, new spears are still emerging. I figured they would be done by now since most have gone to seed and they are a "Spring crop". Maybe they are just trying to catch up from their late start?

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Welcome to the tomato jungle! There are quite a few plants with diseases, but so far this hasn't affected the fruit production. All the plants seem to have caught up to one another in size (some were started much earlier than others). The flavor of the Juliet Plums is superb, but their size in my opinion only makes them good for fresh eating. I couldn't imagine trying to make sauce out of those tiny things.

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Here's a good one.....whats the biggest thing in my garden? The sunflower seedling my son brought home in a Dixie cup from pre-school, ha! The sweet potato vines underneath are finally starting to ramble. (Don't mind the weeds.)

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This is one of the handful of winter squash growing in containers. I never thinned this pot and there are two plants growing in there, I hope they have enough room to get through the season. I don't see how they could but I just don't have the heart to pull one out now.

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These beans are a 'fall sowing'; the muskmelon seedlings originally in this straw bale were eaten by critters in the night. I added some dog hair and metal wire for good measure and so far they have been left alone.

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The neem spraying on the apple trees has not helped any, in fact they are worse. I think the situation is too far gone and requires a more potent chemical. The trees are not happy, hard to put into words, but I can just tell things are not good. I used Bonide Garden Dust (an insecticide-fungicide) today and gave them a fish emulsion feeding. I don't know if the dust will work any better than the neem, but if I don't stop the insect damage soon these trees may weaken beyond repair.

Next year I will be sure to use the neem proactively (as Ruralrose suggested) along with Horticultural & Dormant oil spray. If anyone has any other suggestions please share them! I know most literature calls for regular spraying of fruit trees, and I was hoping to avoid it if at all possible......maybe that just isn't realistic?

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Lastly, yesterday's garden bounty. BLT's and refrigerator pickles are in my future, this is what I have waiting for all summer!! My bucket was actually heavy today, weighing in at four and a quarter pounds, YEAH!