This has been an unusual month. Something terrible produced something good. At the beginning of the month, I pulled a muscle in my back and became bedridden. In addition to working full-time, Bill took over everything including the garden.
He isn't a stranger to it but has only helped when I asked. For the first time, he was responsible for everything. He made the daily inspection trips to the garden, watched it change, learned to spot problems and decided when to harvest. The pupil became the master and I love it. Our conversations have been long and interesting. He now sees what I see and understands what I have been talking about forever. He sees the work involved and the rewards that can be achieved. I have a partner in the garden.
When I was able to sit in a chair and "supervise", he began clearing the spent vegetables and planting seeds for the winter garden. It was a blessing to have someone do all the heavy lifting.
This is the only yellow squash left and its days are numbered. The experiment to plant zucchini, spaghetti, and yellow squash under nets later in the season after the squash vine borers were (hopefully) gone, failed. It wasn't anything I did but something the seed companies did wrong.
I purchased seeds from three different reputable companies and everything had crossed. It's anybody's guess as to what they are now. They don't taste like spaghetti or yellow squash but more like butternut. Next year, I will buy all new seeds and once again try to grow zucchini, yellow and spaghetti squash.
The moschata variety (resistant to borers) squash bed in the front of the garden (which was the potato bed planted in the massive pile of horse manure in the spring) is taking over the yard.
It was planted late so it is unknown how much can be produced. It is impassible but if you peep under the leaves on the edges, hidden squash can be seen. This is going to be a surprising treasure hunt.
The first frost will arrive this month so it is time to start the fall harvest. For the first time, I'm excited and look forward to sharing the discoveries.
