It has been a month of change. The rain stopped and the temperature soared, of course. This area is now in an abnormally dry drought. The garden is stressed and struggling, (just like us), but we continue to plant the empty areas, hand water, harvest, and prepare for fall.
The purple hull peas have finished. They put out a huge crop at first and then the production slowed. Some people rip them out and plant again but I have never wanted to do the extra work. We have always continued to harvest until they finished. Perhaps next year I will have an abundance of energy and try planting them twice to see the difference it makes - but that's a big maybe.
The cucumber plants look horrible but they are still producing two or three cucumbers every day. All we need is enough for us to eat fresh because the pickling and dehydrating is finished. Hopefully, they will hold out until the fall seedlings begin producing.
North Carolina Pickling cucumbers are small, white and stay crisp when pickled. The tiny ones are pickled whole for one son and then those that get larger are used to make all the other pickles. The small dehydrated bits are added to tzatziki sauce as a thickener.
Speaking of green beans, one rabbit in a single night's time wiped out almost all of the bean seedlings which filled the whole back area of the garden. He squeezed in under the new gate but has since paid dearly for his deadly mistake.
These are Strike Green Beans which were quickly ordered and planted in every empty spot. They are supposed to mature within 45 days. There is no way they can produce enough before winter so yesterday we took a trip to the Amish auction. I was horrified at the outrageous prices! A shoe box of green beans sold for $41!!! I did not buy any.
We lost one because the stem broke so we set them on flower pots to support their hefty weight. One of the pots caved in and broke another melon. Each one is like lifting three watermelons.
Hopefully, we can get at least one to harvest so we can taste it. When we open it, there will be a big wintertime celebration and we might invite the whole town for a feast.
As for the rest of the garden, the cherry tomatoes in part shade are surviving. Their production isn't as good as full sun but it is still enough for us. That experiment worked.
Planted in the furthest back corner under the cherry tomatoes is the long vined Tahitian Butternut squash. It was put there because I knew it would run to the sun and fill the empty space under the cherry tomatoes. Even though they are in deep shade, everything is producing well enough to go there again. It is a good use of a difficult area.
The winter squash that are in full sun are ecstatic.
The heat loving Lima beans, peppers and peanuts have not minded being scorched at all.
Rain is forecast in a few days and the temperature is dropping. Fall is coming. It looks like even in spite of the uncooperative weather and pillaging rabbits, we are having a great harvest.
