August garden :-(

[rainbowgardener]

The garden in spring is so beautiful and full of life and hope. The beds are lush and full. Everything is new and fresh and perfect and I love it so much!

Now it is August. I had to pull the rest of the kale because it was eaten in to lace by slugs. The slugs then turned to the swiss chard in the same bed. That was my beautiful, amazing chard that was planted spring last year and just kept going and going. The slugs hadn't touched it until the kale was removed, then they turned their attention and decimated the chard.

Tomato plants are ravaged by septoria in this very wet year.

A big beautiful squash plant with four acorn squashes on it succumbed to squash vine borer (I thought the borers weren't supposed to bother winter squash?). I harvested the squash, but they are about half the size they could have gotten to.

Some of the rhubarb that was huge appears to have died of some fungal disease-- not powdery mildew, something that turns the leaves dark brown.

I have some kabocha squash that so far is still doing fine. Second planting of corn is almost ready. Lots of green beans coming on, some about ready. Peppers still doing fine. Herbs and flowers doing well. Hens are giving us four eggs a day pretty reliably. Apples are ripe on the tree. But some days I walk out in the garden and turn around and walk in again. Not only is it too hot and humid to work in the garden this time of year, but the garden looks so pathetic it hurts my eyes and heart to see...

So I'm getting the garden ready to start planting cool weather stuff again. I would have still been doing summer stuff if the third planting of corn and the late planted squash had ever sprouted, but oh well, makes more room in the garden to do cool weather stuff for a fall crop.

Life as a gardener!!

[lakngulf]

I took a weed eater to my lakeside garden today to see if I could find any vegetables left. some things have produced so well this year (Cherokee purple tomatoes) but others succumbed. and weeds, wow what a year for weeds.

[KitchenGardener]

Where I am, August is almost always the coldest "summer" month (we often get our hottest summer days in late September, or early October). Moist air and cool temps come in, and powdery mildew starts to do its thing. Right now, I'm nursing my garden - cutting every suspect leaf and branch, and wondering whether I should just pull a ton of stuff and call it a day, or hope for the best...

I'm sorry its apparently not easy for any of us!

[applestar]

Acorn squash is a C.pepo and still vulnerable to SVB's. actually surprised Kabocha is still doing OK as they are typically C.maxima and in my garden C.maxima seems to draw the SVB's even more... but I haven't tried kabocha -- which variety is it?

I saw the moth a few days? ago, fluttering at the outside of my tulle protection for my bed of two C.pepo and C.maxima squashes, I tried to get it but it was too quick. I noticed yesterday that one of my unprotected, later started younger butternut vines (C.moschata) had been chewed through, though a while ago, though not entirely sure if it was the SVB. It looks like I didn't notice before because the vine had rooted beyond the damaged point and didn't wilt. Earlier started butternut has two fruits that are turning color. However, I saw from the window later in the day that one of my later sowed summer squash had flopped over -- didn't see it while I was still outside. So I will be investigating it tomorrow.

The tulle cover seems to be working to exclude the SVB moth but squash bugs have been getting in somehow -- laying eggs through the mesh onto the leaves pressed against the netting is definitely one way. Possibly I missed some of those eggs and they matured inside. At least with the tulle, I can see the eggs from the outside, and I have to go in to hand pollinate when I see female flowers anyway. Last time, when I used opaque garden fabric, not being able to see inside made things a lot harder.

Septoria and early blight has been creeping up my tomatoes as well. I've been trying Lindsaylew's method of removing almost every bit of leaf that have been affected -- the indeterminate tomato vines in the main bed are almost entirely bare of leaf all the way up to about 3 feet now. I guess this doesn't work if sunscald on exposed fruits is an issue where you are.

Difference in climate -- my tomatoes and cucumbers are at peak harvest now and I'm looking for/at harvestable fruits every day. Shaking and hand pollinating corn every chance I get. If my first planting had been sweet corn I would have some to harvest, but my first was the popcorn variety so I'm just waiting for them to fully mature. Harvesting green and jalapeño peppers as well as fully ripe peppers from overwintered plants. This year's seed-grown peppers have green fruits. (I didn't get around to planting main group of peppers in SIP's as I intended -- really have to do that next year since I think it really does make a difference). Watching melons grow, some starting to ripen.

I haven't seen a whole lot of slugs this year now that you mention it. Not sure why. Maybe because I have been seeing treefrog poop on various foliages? Perhaps my "frog" pond has been producing treefrogs -- the tiny tadpoles (I'm pretty sure) are treefrog tadpoles. It's certainly noisy enough out there at night.

[gumbo2176]

My summer garden is usually one of my worst of the year, and this year is no exception. The things that I planted in early March are now long gone with the exception of a few pepper plants and my maintenance project of a whole house exterior paint job took a lot of time away from the garden to get it finished before the summer heat arrived.

Then combine all that with the insane amounts of rain we've gotten this summer and it's no wonder my plot is now over 90% bare. I can't even get in the garden to pull rows to put seeds in, but did manage to do so a few weeks ago around my 3 trellises with some cucumber and pole bean seeds that are doing well--------but that is it. There's things I could plant now as seeds, but my ground is so wet I can't really walk in the garden without sinking up to my ankles in slush. I did manage to add some compost and garden soil to my raised bed to bring the soil level back to capacity a few days ago, but that is the only place that drains well and where I plant most of the root crops I grow. I'll be putting in beets soon, and then save a spot for my garlic that goes in around early October.

I've told my wife for the past few years that if it wasn't for okra, my summer garden would be mostly bare, and this year I didn't plant any okra-----and it's as bare as an empty parking lot.

[rainbowgardener]

My garden is definitely not bare, though it has a few bare spots, including where the third corn planting never made it. I should post a couple pictures. There's a stand of sweet corn surrounded by big healthy squash plants. There's the bed with rhubarb (some still going), asparagus (in fern, looking great), artichoke and strawberry. Tomato plants looking bare and completely stripped of leaves and branches at the bottom, but still hanging in there. Some happy pepper plants. A few remaining carrots and a bunch of thriving beans. Oh and one volunteer potato plant that is absolutely going to town, now that it has its bed mostly to itself. The potatoes I planted are long gone, but this one is just thriving. Love those volunteers!

My local vegetable planting guide tells me I could be planting broccoli, cabbage, and other cruciferous veggies, chard, garlic, peas, fall potatoes, and spinach now, so I should get busy and get going! Temperatures are in the low nineties with more humidity than sometimes for the whole next week. Slows me down from garden work.

[pepperhead212]

Yeah, kabocha and acorns are two that I can't grow here, due to SVBs.

[jal_ut]

Mid August. Here we usually get our killing frost the first weed in September. That is not far off. No use planting anything here. I still have a little corn coming and a bunch of squash like things, that are not going to make it. We had that killing frost July 5 and had to start over late, so many things will not have time to mature here this season. Later about mid September I will plant the garlic for next years crop.

[imafan26]

I did not plant my main garden this year, but I do have a fine crop of weeds. The pots I did manage to plant are actually doing pretty good. I planted tomatoes but they got tomato yellow leaf curl virus, so no more tomatoes this year. I used the tomato pots to plant beans and peas instead and got a good crop of those for a few weeks. I don't plant a lot in a pot, 9 plants in each pot. I followed the beans and peas with cucumbers and I got a couple of more pots that I could fit between them. I had too much small ginger pieces so I planted 4 pots instead of 1. That is going great but I have to repot one of the pots since the ginger is pushing the side of the pot.

I got 4 big cucumbers and then I started having problems with fruit flies. I tried bagging, but my bagging technique needs work. I still haven't gotten around to baiting. I don't like the new bait. It does not catch as many flies. I have lost many cukes to fruit flies but I have a couple that have been stung but have hung on.
I planted zucchini, so far I have got one. Fruit flies went after that first.
I have replanted one of the tomato pots with beets, swiss chard and perpetual spinach. The beets were not happy but the chard and spinach are growing well.
I planted the second tomato pot with Jade cucumber. The Shiyo Kyuri is fading.
I cut the hibiscus and I pulled out the bean plants and I don't see white flies anymore. I might chance planting tomatoes after the Shiyo Kyuri cucumber comes out. The zucchini is still growing, but I may pull it out and plant peas again.
At least I don't have to worry about frost. I may even get to plant something in the garden this year after all.

[rainbowgardener]

Mid August. Here we usually get our killing frost the first weed in September. That is not far off. No use planting anything here. I still have a little corn coming and a bunch of squash like things, that are not going to make it. We had that killing frost July 5 and had to start over late, so many things will not have time to mature here this season. Later about mid September I will plant the garlic for next years crop.

Sheesh! My frost free growing season is from about April 1 to Nov 5... But that's a lot of why I uprooted myself from a place I had lived for 40 years and moved south.

[jal_ut]

Mid August. Here we usually get our killing frost the first weed in September. That is not far off. No use planting anything here. I still have a little corn coming and a bunch of squash like things, that are not going to make it. We had that killing frost July 5 and had to start over late, so many things will not have time to mature here this season. Later about mid September I will plant the garlic for next years crop.

Well I am reading this post and see my typo, but can't edit the post. Arguah. Do you see my mistake? "the first weed in September" weed should be week. Oh well. Nice beautiful day here today. Sunny and 65 degrees at 9:05 AM. I should go pull some garlic.

[Gary350]

My August garden has, tomatoes, bell peppers, Kale, Swiss chard, cantaloupe, watermelons, herbs. The pantry and freezer are stocked for winter. I planted 6 new tomato plants from seeds several weeks ago I will cover the tomatoes with the tiny green house about November so we have tomatoes for Christmas dinner. It is a very nice wonderful day I started out on a 20 mile bicycle ride about 10 mile later I parked the bike and jumped into the river. I need to enjoy it while I can another 2 months water will be too cold.

[jal_ut]

Beautiful August day!

ss559 by James_40 Lofthouse, on Flickr

[Allyn]

Yep. Summers in the south are too hot and too humid, and August is the worst, especially this year. We've had so much rain. We had gotten our yearly average rainfall by the first week in August. I'm starting to plan for the fall garden.