Monday, August 31, 2009

Then & Now- August Review

Time again for some comparison photos!

The green beans started the season looking less-than-great in June, mustered a good recovery in July and are now winding down production.


This bed has Landreth Stringless, Contender and French Filet bush beans. I would plant the Contender and French Filet again. They produce nice long, straight pods and seemed more productive than the Landreth. The raw flavor was also better. They were all mixed together for cooking so I didn't notice any flavor difference at dinnertime.

The sunflowers are going a little nuts now! The bees love the sunflowers as well as the bolted broccoli flowers. They have both sprawled out of the beds enough that I avoid those pathways to not anger any bees. Most of the time, I can see about 10 bees in the broccoli.



The spaghetti squash look like they're maturing now. They are starting to turn yellow though there is still a lot of green on the fruits. My understanding is they are ready to pick once they have fully turned color. The foliage is looking pretty shabby and appears to have some powdery mildew starting as well.


It took seemingly forever, but some of my peppers I started from seed are producing! I really thought they were never going to grow (my watermelon didn't...). Next year, I will not subject the peppers to such cool spring temps. They'll have to be babied a little more.

My pumpkin is nearly ready! I think there is also a second one just starting to grow. I'm not positive how many surviving plants I have on that ladder but it's at least 2, so the production is really low. On the other hand, I bought the seeds on clearance last fall for about a quarter so I'm not going to complain too much.


I also have what I believe may be a larger pumpkin that sprouted from some compost under my transplanted lilacs in the back yard. I must not have looked at it closely for a while because when I checked it earlier I had several male blooms and no females. I checked it yesterday and there's a fruit that's probably 10" long! There's another small one as well. I'm pretty impressed as this didn't receive any care at all. I think I watered the lilac once this summer as it looked a little wilted (probably because this large squash plant was sucking away all it's water). Maybe I watered twice.


-AUGUST HARVEST TOTALS-
Zucchini 74 oz (4 lb 10 oz) 15 fruits
Beans (all varieties) 150 oz (9 lb 6 oz)
Pattypan Squash 14 oz 2 fruits
Carrots 11 oz
Peppers 3 oz (2 fruits)
Potatoes 34 oz (2 lb 2 oz)
Cucumbers 33 oz (2 lb 1 oz) 6 fruits
Tomatoes 19 oz (1 lb 3 oz)

Total: 338 oz = 21 lb 2 oz


July total: 157 oz = 9 lb 13 oz
June total: 69 oz =4 lb 5 oz
May total: 10 oz .

Total: 574 oz = 35 lb 14 oz

If you'd like to re-visit my July review, click this link:
http://transplantedgardener.blogspot.com/2009/07/then-now-july-review.html

6 comments:

sb158 said...

Not too bad, considering the cool, wet summer and hail storms!

Annie*s Granny said...

Looks good! I really liked the Contender beans, too. They were our favorites in the taste test, but production was much lower than Burpee Stringless Green Pod. They were all hard to pick, the leaves were so thick.

Ribbit said...

Not too shabby considering! I love the color and size of that pumpkin. It's just perfect.

Amy said...

SB, we have had a lot of hail this summer. We've been fortunate not to have had the huge hail that just devastated peoples' gardens around Colorado.

Granny, the Contenders do have a really nice flavor. In the raw bean taste test, they did very well. The Landreth didn't taste so good (raw). I haven't tried the Greenpod yet.

Ribbit, it is turning out to be a very pretty little pumpkin! It has lived quite happily under the ladder hanging just above the ground. I had expected a little more from some of my beans but the early weather was not helpful for them at all. I'm not going to complain though, I have been eating quite well lately!

Unknown said...

I love your comparison shots. I too have learned this year to baby my peppers next year. No hurry to get them in the ground.

BTW, I have passed along a "Meme Award" to you. Thank you for your inspirational blog and kind remarks over this past season!

http://grafixmusegardenspot.blogspot.com/2009/09/meme-award.html

Shawn Ann said...

tag again...I would also like to pass along the Meme award. Thanks for sharing your garden with us!