Get Me To The Country: September's Garden (2025)

The weather at night has cooled, there were two good days of rain and the garden revived. The heat and drought returned but there is still good news to share.

There will be green beans after all! It won't be as many as I had wanted (because a rascally rabbit stole most of my seedlings late one night) but there will be a harvest! The row in the front of the garden that he missed is beginning to produce.

The quickly purchased Strike green beans which were advertised to be ready in 45 days have tiny blooms. In last month's post they were about six inches tall so there just might be a decent harvest before frost. It looks like the seed catalog might have been right for once.

These tomatoes were all started from trimmed suckers in the spring by just shoving them deeply into soggy ground. It was easy until the heat arrived and then it was impossible to get anything to root. Lesson learned. Next year the experiment will continue because it was an easy way to get fall tomatoes.

The Volunteer half runner pole beans which were also quickly ordered have run up the fence and are reaching for the sky. This morning I found tiny beans. Already, I am impressed with their fast growth. If the flavor is good, these will be grown next year, and the next, and the next....

The shaded area under trees in the back with empty spots caused by the naughty rabbit, was planted again with more green beans. It is beginning to produce, although a bit spindly, but it answers whether beans will grow in the shade. The wasted space will, at least, produce some beans. I would prefer to get a puny yield as opposed to letting weeds run rampant.

This experiment has been a success. Okra slows and drops leaves as the nights cool so lettuce was planted in the shade underneath. It didn't immediately bolt and it was a useful way to use an empty area.

The squash under the cherry tomatoes on the edge of the shade is finally producing. Other squash planted during past years further back in deeper shade didn't do well at all. It seems the edge of shade will be the dividing point from now on for squash.

The bell peppers under the lima bean arch that were planted in the massive manure pile from two years ago, have all gone wild. That manure pile has been the gift that just keeps giving.

The branches are beginning to break causing the peppers to dry on the vines. This is the second time we have stripped them down.

My freezer is full, so these will be chopped and dehydrated for long term storage. Next year, fewer bell peppers will be grown and instead in their place, jalapenos. They will be needed for pickling because they haven't been grown in three years. The supply is dwindling. Also, I want to search for a sweeter paprika for spice since I want to learn how to do cold smoking. This year isn't over and I am already planning next year's garden.

One of the wax melons developed a hole. The seed catalog ranked them as one of the most difficult things to grow. They weren't kidding.

This makes four that have either rotted or fallen off the fence. I'm not panicked yet. There are still more growing.

This massive one seems to still be doing fine. All I want is one to survive to maturity to see if we like it.

Since it won't live much longer, we decided to cut it down. The stem was still green so it wasn't ripe.

It had the texture of cantaloupe which made sense, it is a melon but it lacked any flavor. It was bland but juicy. There was a tiny hint of sweetness. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. It definitely needs to grow longer.