Feels like Fall! No, kidding, it truly does!
August (so far) is turning out to be nice. In fact, it's downright pleasant -- very cool in the morning and evenings. Pleasant is such an odd word to describe the weather in August no doubt.
We can't predict the weather and us mere mortals have really no clue what's going on with the weather. Could be the seven year land cycle or climate change but all I know is the summer garden never really took off. It's providing us with "our daily bread" but we aren't drowning in surplus - well, not yet.
September and October can get very hot so we hope to get an few extra months of warm (but not too warm) weather the garden needs to catch up. However, one is beginning to have a gut feeling that this summer could be a short one - and we aren't the only farmer to have such an inclination. People we've talked with are having a lackluster veggie and fruit season or just sense this year is different. Of course, we sure hope we are wrong - for one, I have loads of empty shelf space that needs to be filled up!
It's a jungle out there
Beans, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant and tomatoes
Towering tomatoes
Peppers
Tomatoes
Tromboncino squash
Justin picks cherry tomatoes - just look at those huge plants! About 10 ft high now.
Carpenter bee pollinates an eggplant
Justin cleans off the lower dead leaves from the tomato towers
Cherry tomatoes
Heirloom tomatoes and peppers
Lemon cucumbers
Rainbow assortment of heirloom tomatoes
Fall Planting
Here on the urban homestead, we have started our fall plantings.
Don't forget to order your fall & winter seeds from Freedom Seeds - you can purchase many of the veggie varieties seen the in above photos - purple cherokee tomatoes, lemon cucumbers and more!
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6 Comments: "AUGUST GARDEN & HARVEST" »
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Everything looks so yummy, and healthy! Makes my mouth water
who does your photography? It is really great! Are you using digital for all your photos?
Hi~
I built raised beds this past spring and had good success with growing tomato, bean and cucumber plants along with herbs, lettuce and radishes. (Harvest is low because of the weather, but the plants look great!)
I would love to know what type of support structure you are using for your tomato plants. Do you have photos or a post explaining how you built the support and why you chose what you did? I trained our tomato plants up a twine staked a the base of each plant and tied to a vertical support system. This worked, but greatly reduced our already small harvest because of the need to pinch back all the 'suckers'.
I would love to hear any suggestions you may have.
Thank you for all the information you graciously share.
~Amber
The lemon cucumbers have been very successful here in the Southeast. Cukes aren't easy here, grown organically. The lemon cukes yeild well during our short cucumber season. Thanks to Justin for showing us all the beauty and ease of this wonderful heirloom!
I am in SE New Mexico and no one here has had a good garden year. It has been very hot, but that is common.
I did read an interesting article by someone who tracks the intensity of the sun from year to year. Said this was a weak year.
You can't tell, but maybe that is it. I can find no explanation.
I love your site! I just started my own backyard garden. We're in south Orange County, and I was wondering---how do you keep the hornworms out of your tomatoes? I'm always fighting this battle, and seem to be losing! I don't use any pesticides---do you?
Thanks,
Tommy