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!!