As we move toward October, the garden is winding down. I picked the last of the cucumbers last week, and the vines are all dead. I gave Katy about 7 or 8 lemon cucumber last weekend when they were here, which was my total harvest. The tomato vines are dying from the bottom up but are still loaded with green tomatoes, I am hoping some of them ripen before the first frost. The pepper plants are vigorous. I still have lots of Shishitos, jalapenos and poblanos. The green peppers took a break after the first enormous flush of peppers over a month ago. I think letting some turn red so early stopped the plants from bearing. There are a lot of small ones now, hope they will mature before the frost comes.

Temperatures will be in the 80s for the next five days and there is no frost in the foreseeable future. I need to make sure next year that I get the varieties that I want in the garden and get them planted on time. This summer was terribly dry, and I don’t think I got enough water on the plants. I think I only fertilized the pots once, which is not acceptable. Since I won’t be in the construction business next spring, I should be able to do a better job. Mice or other rodents damaged a lot of tomatoes on the vine. Next year, I need to make sure that plants next to the beds don’t provide a ladder for them and also sagging tomato vines reaching the ground from the planter. I can try mint oil repellant also.

I will replace the current bed where I plant peas with raised beds that won’t need to be fenced. The two planters where the Shishitos are will be replaced with a metal raised bed like the ones that will be flanking it. I’ll get the beds in this fall. I haven’t thought about when I will fill them with soil.

I sat on the deck for lunch today and the air was filled with Stinkbugs landing on the porch screens. There were a couple of token Box Elder beetles, also.

All in all, it was a good year for the garden despite the drought, late plantings and missing some of the varieties I really wanted.

The biggest problem in the garden now is that tomatoes and peppers are being eaten. I found a half-eaten tomato high up on the plant covered in mouse poop. AHA! The perpetrator (or at least one of them) has been identified! How are they climbing up there? First, unsupported tomato vines that have fallen into the paths. I need to tie these up or trim them off. Second, plants growing next to the planters. The horseradish garden for one, and the currant plant and gooseberry. Some of it might be insect damage as well. I researched mice in the garden, and it is a common problem with tomatoes.

One other problem is the peppers. I have been leaving the green peppers on the vine to ripen, but they rot before completely turning red, orange, or yellow. I need to research that one.

The varieties of cucumbers I grew this year were prolific but got big too fast. I need to make sure that I get the Summer Rain variety from Countryside next year and other English varieties.

My current thought is to replace the bed I use for peas with a raised bed, and the two planters where the Shishitos are should be replaced with a raised bed. I’ll move the two planters to replace the one that collapsed in the heavy rain and the other one that is falling apart.

In general, I need to be better about maintenance, fertilizing the pots, and watering next year. Also, I need to tie up plants and trim more.

I need to find a way to protect the new blackberry canes from rabbits in the winter.

The Gypsy peppers did very well. I’ll plant more of them next year.