August in the Garden: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I can't believe that it's been so long since my last post.
The summer living is not slow and easy here in northern New Jersey, it is HOT and WET and it's been moving at a breakneck speed this year. With all of life, and the garden has been sort of neglected.
So I give you this past weekend's asessment:

The Good
The fenced garden with groundhog proofing has successfully keept out the groundhog for 6+ weeks now. YAY! So, hopefully next spring I'll be able to get an earlier start there and keep it going all summer.

The windowbox lettuce has been wonderful as have the windowbox bush beans...the beans that did well were a specific variety for container gardening.
And, The herbs always do well in containers.

The squash, cukes, and beans I planted in the fenced area are doing well and should produce a decent fall crop. (fingers crossed)

Onion sets I shared with my garden buddy, Kim, also did well in the fenced garden(not as good as hers, but she's a more attentive gardner) and the leeks were AWESOME.

The Bad
The topsy turvy hanging tomato things didn't do so well...I'm not completely ready to give up. It was a weird weather kind of year...so, maybe next year they'll do better.
I kept planting what I thought was cilantro in containers, and it turned out that most of it was parsely. Oh well...
I still need to plant some autumn greens. Hope I get the chance before it's too late.
AND, the weeds OMG!!! With all of the rain we got this year, the weeds in the garden beds have been horriffic. It has been impossible to keep up with them.

The Ugly
Tomato blight...there, I've said it...
The same disease that created the Irish Potato Famine is taking out tomato crops in the NE USA. Organic and Biodynamic farms are hit hard.

I couldn't grow tomatoes this year for love or money. My seedlings didn't do well...I begged some from my friend Kim, but the weather stunted them.
Then I purchased some plants from the local Lowes...which died within a week...a dry week.
So I took them back and re-purchased...and those plants have barely hung on. (still trying to figure out if I took blight home.)

But in the back of my head I knew my CSG (Community Supported Garden) would take care of me. That we'd get distributions of tomatoes and there would be some "pick your own" patches.
Alas, that is not to be. We received word this week that the blight hit them hard and they had to destroy the tomato fields. It is an especially hard hit as they usually save seed and will not be able to do that either.

So here it is...the last week in August and NO TOMATOES! I'll probably be able to hunt some down at a farm stand somewhere....eventually....but it is not the same as eating as you pick from your own garden or watching your kids pick and eat...or bringing them home from the farm we've supported for 10 years.

Protecting the Veggies

Even with the bulk of the garden close to the house this year, the deer and/or groundhogs have brazenly partaken of our efforts.
I started with pots close to our main door, and as the seeds sprouted I moved most of the window boxes to arms hanging from the porch railing, and covered some of the pots/boxes I couldn't move with bird netting.
At first I only covered the side of the steps with the bean plants, because the tomato and pepper plants are apperently not as tasty to the beasties.
But then my parsley started to got munched - AT THE very back of the pot ON TOP OF THE STEPS RIGHT ON THE PORCH!
So, I bought a second roll and now have it covering both sides.
My husband does not love it, it's not pretty, but it gets the job done....as long as I remember to tuck it in...because the beastie got some of the parsley AGAIN even with the netting over it ARRGH!

Weekend Garden Review

Almost everything I planted last weekend is, at least, poking its way up.
I have tiny lettuce, spinach, & broccoli rabe seedlings in the window boxes...no sign of the swiss chard yet.
The beans are just-cresting the dirt in the side boxes, and one of the peat pots of cucumbers is up as well.
No sign of the zucchini or yellow squash yet...

This weekend, I transplanted a bell pepper and 2 tomatoes (Striped Roman and Kellogs Breakfast varieties) to bigger pots flowers to hanging pots...made 2 big flower pots for Mom and still have some left over to plant around the yard.
I had posted a "wanted" on the local Freecycle list and received 3 new pots...one was huge - from a large rhododendron the giver had purchased.

My original planting of cilantro is just about big enough to start harvesting...so next weekend we will have fresh salsa! Yay! For my fresh salsa recipe click here.

I have been procrastinating on going to the fenced plot and doing groundhog control...but it must eventually be done....there are more tomatoes to plant, and not much more room on the porch steps..and the squash will need space too.

And, OI, Chucky was sighted last night close to the porch....

Growing Challenge: The Peas are GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe it!
After all that waiting and watching.......SOMETHING (woodchuck/groundhog probably) got thorugh the perimeter fence and ATE ALL OF THEM!!!!!!! I planted 2 full packs!

The onions, shallots and garlic are, however doing quite nicely.

I think I'm going to go cry now.