August has been wild.
The Tahitian Butternut squash vine has grown over the potato patch, as expected. Notice the shovel handle sticking up in the back left side of the bed and the missing yellow squash plants. The shovel was left by Reese when we abruptly stopped digging potatoes and rushed to the house covered in fire ants. We have not walked back into the bed to retrieve the shovel. No one is brave enough.
I threw down the bucket of potatoes as I ran. A few days later I lifted it to get the potatoes and the fire ants had already built this mound around it.
This is the underside of the bucket covered in ants and eggs.
This is the second mound on the other side of the potato patch which also formed in a few days. Since this is the vegetable garden and is right beside our well, we don't want to use anything toxic. A commenter last month suggested urinating on the mounds. I am pleased to report, Dustin helped me with this experiment (no pictures will be shared), and surprising to say, it worked. The ants were quite offended; however, Bill counted twenty-seven mounds in the front yard (not including the backyard and fields). Dustin has not been able to keep up with the demand. As of now, the potatoes remain undug, the shovel is still stuck in the dirt and none of the squash have been picked.
As for the missing summer squash - the borers have won again for the millionth time. They have killed all of my summer squash. The Viva Scent traps did not all work. The first one was covered in borers it had attracted and caught. The second put out six weeks later only caught two the whole time so it must not have been working. A third trap was put out a few days ago and it has already caught about half a dozen.
I don't know what happened but even the squash plant six feet from the second trap died. The first and third traps worked great but the second one didn't work at all. If all three had worked it would have been awesome but I consider them unreliable. I am saving the last trap and only buying two more next year. My plan is to put all of the summer squash together a few feet apart with the scent traps in the middle - maybe that will work. There is one plant still barely alive, covered in yellow squash and it is awesome.
Staking it worked great. Seeing it makes my imagination run wild. What if I had a row of these? How many squashes could I get? Could they feed us all winter and so I wouldn't need to plant anything else in the garden? Fantasizing about harvesting more than one zucchini makes me giddy.
As for the rest of the garden, it has taken a beating. Last week 12 inches of rain fell in one day in Waverly, Tennessee. The flooding was devasting and many people died. Since we are about 60 miles away, the edge of the storm crossed over us. I'm not complaining about the water damage to my garden. We are all alive and that is what really matters.
Most of the tomatoes drowned in the deluge.
A few are trying to flower and might live.
Before the storm, I had taken pictures of most of my tomatoes.
However, since they won't make it to the end of the season, I haven't decided which are the best. Those I am sure won't be grown next year are Jersey Devil (exactly like Opalka and I can't tell them apart), Super Beefsteak (too many seeds), and Pineapple (nothing special).
Without the tomato plants to shade them, the carrots below have perked up. After the dead plants are removed, seeds for winter vegetables will be sown. When the last surviving tomato plant is finished the fence will be taken down and this area will become a winter hoop house. All is not lost. I just change directions and try again.
The watermelon that was stuck in the fence above the short Super Beefsteak tomatoes survived us putting it into a sling.
It was so ripe and juicy it exploded when cut.
We voted it the best-tasting watermelon ever.
Reese received the honor of picking the first batch of corn. He had to dig through the Black Futsu squash that was vining through the stalks.
After these early rows of corn were harvested, the Black Futsu Squash spread down the whole row.
I have never had success growing it so tasting a ripe one will be a first. So far, it has produced five fruits and there are still more blooms.
It grew across the path, went up the fence of the next row of corn, and joined the melon patch. I didn't see any melons because the leaves were so thick.
After getting down on my hands and knees and digging through the leaves, I discovered four large Banana Melons. I actually danced with joy through the garden.
As quickly as it started, the dancing stopped. Something unknown slipped into the garden during the dark of night and ravished the remaining corn. Nothing was left for us.
We don't know if it was a squirrel, raccoon, or an opossum but whatever it was, we will be able to identify it by its fat belly.
The late-planted beans in the back of the garden are beginning to produce. Each row has either a vining melon or squash at the end.
This one has a Red Kuri squash intertwined into a tangled mess. It is necessary to hunt through the bean leaves to find the hidden squash.
Everything planted on the south end of each row did better than those on the north. Also on a few rows, I left a little open space that helped the seedlings get started before they were swallowed by the jungle.
In this row, only two beans germinated so the Spaghetti Squash had the whole area to itself for a short while. I slid them off into the aisle and am now starting winter seeds around the vines in the empty spot.
In the back of the garden, a single Chinese Yuxi Jiang Bing Gua Squash has taken over everything! I have repeatedly trimmed the edges, kicked it out of the way, and trampled it as it overran the path. This thing keeps growing and hasn't produced anything!
I decided to give it a few more weeks before I ripped it up and left a bad review on the seed company's catalog website. Yesterday while crawling around searching underneath, I found one squash. ONE SQUASH! That is all! After commandeering this much real estate, it had better taste like a chocolate candy bar!
The Abashi Bitter Melon has begun blooming and has formed fruit. No taste tests so far.
The Chinese Python Snake Bean has been the biggest surprise. It grows fast and the beans are delicious. I have only cooked two so I will share more about it next month after I know what to do. This is a keeper and I will always grow it.
The squash planted in the old compost pile beside the field fence has not disappointed. It is full of squash.
It was impossible to get the whole area in one picture frame so these are two more. The left picture is leading up to the compost pile and the right picture are the vines growing away from the compost pile going toward the back fence. The first frost date is still six weeks away.
Unlike the worthless squash in the back of the garden, these are producing abundantly. There is plenty to share and maybe I can find a neighbor with a zucchini who would like to trade.
Fire ants, squash vine borers, squirrels, opossums, raccoons, and a flood - gardening is not for the faint of heart but the rewards for my family are worth all the work.
