Well, here we go into September. As usual, I’ve backed off on garden care as other priorities and mosquitoes have kept me away. We had the Honey locust tree removed a couple of weeks ago and Greg’s crew did a superb job of removing the tree that was mostly hanging over the garden. Only a little minor damage.

It has been a very dry summer. We had storms and 2 1/2 inches of rain the second week of August, and that has about been it. The second storm after we returned from St. Louis knocked power out for about 13 hours and trashed my editing computer. After a couple of days of messing around, I replaced the P/S to no avail. Then I needed to replace the MOBO and that fixed it. With that all of the software updates, I lost a couple of weeks of gardening, and then it was one thing after another.

Tomatoes over the old compost did well. I had moved the Champion and Early Girl there this year from their previous spot next to the Horseradish and they were falling over from tomatoes. I took about ten pounds to the Project Hope food pantry on August 7th and they have been abundant ever since, even with me giving a lot away. The tomatoes next to the Horseradish are barely alive. It’s the same pattern as last year, even though I had worked a lot of compost into that last row. I looked up if Horseradish could be causing the problem, but most of the effects of having horseradish around are beneficial.

The zucchini has been very productive as have been the peppers. My seven Jalapeno plants aren’t enough. Shishito peppers have been prolific, but most of them are hot this year. Strange. They are again from Bonnie Plants.

The eggplants failed again, I harvested just two small ones. I think they didn’t get enough water. After the peas failed I planted Lazy Housewife pole beans which came up quickly and were starting their climb up the trellis when they were eaten to the ground, likely by rabbits, even though they were fenced in. I guess I need to redo my fencing.

The broccoli bore well all summer, I should have picked it in a more timely manner, though. The tomatillos started bearing near the end of August and they are doing very well.

I never got to staking the blackberries which bore relatively well. The early ones that were overripe were loaded with Picnic Beetles, so picking was a slow process. As more got ripe the Picnic Beetles seemed to go away. But because they weren’t staked, they were difficult to get into and many were near the ground. It would be good if I did may staking this fall after cleanup. Cucumbers are doing well even though they got in late. The lemon cukes are just starting to bear. I won’t need a potted cucumber next year, but two potted tomatoes would be better.

The potted plants were looking yellow and bad, but one shot of fertilizer really greened them up. I need to make watering easier and need to do and need to do better at picking and watering come August.

I didn’t keep up with the Herb gardens very well because of the time spent constructing the mint garden. I definitely need to learn more about growing basil. I spent lots on plants with multiple replantings and the crop was horrible.

Here’s what I found. Basil likes well-drained, moist soil. I probably need to prepare the soil to a greater depth with lots of compost. I should water and fertilize more often.