Hello garden gals and guys! The heat of summer combined with the excessive rains have stalled my garden. Yes, I know, sad. So this past weekend I decided to get out there and do a little bit of clean up.
I started with the raised bed. I had a cucumber plant, one tomato plant, and beans. I got a few cucumbers from this plant but for the most part the cucumbers would turn yellow while they were still small. The tomato plant that was here didn’t grow well at all. The beans, however, are doing their thing.
Here’s the garden after I cleared it out:
I’m not sure what I’m going to plant in this space yet. I’ll figure something out by this weekend. Next up was the big garden. This was not a good year for tomatoes. Too much heat followed by entirely too much rain had my tomatoes splitting while they were still green.
The tomatoes that did manage to ripen fell prey to a squirrel that found its way in my garden cage. The chicken wire is long overdue to be replaced but I didn’t get around to that task this summer. I’m not looking forward to it, either.
Here’s the right side of the garden before the clean up:
And here it is after:
I left the cherry tomato and pepper plants because they are still producing quite a bit. I forgot to take a before shot of the left side of the garden. Oh well. Here it is all cleared out:
The only thing left are the pole beans I just planted a few weeks ago. There is a goji berry bush in the pot you see on the right.
Here’s the detritus of my summer cleaning:
On a brighter note, these little pepper plants are not only beautiful, but the peppers it grows are HOT!! They go from a beautiful, deep purple to red.
Here are a few that were ready:
I popped one in my mouth thinking “it can’t be that hot, it’s little.” Wrong. Wrong. My whole face was on fire.
Here’s a little harvest of what I got from the garden as I cleared out the plants:
Tomatoes, various varieties of peppers, a cucumber, and buried under all this yummy deliciousness are string beans from the raised bed. I guess this isn’t too bad of a haul for one day, but I’m used to getting hauls like this every day throughout August.
Hubby and I enjoyed some caprese yesterday with the larger tomatoes. In case you don’t know what that is, it’s an Italian dish. It has sliced tomatoes topped with slices of fresh mozzarella cheese, then sprinkled lightly with olive oil and thousand island dressing. Mouth-watering!!
I’ve got one more little thing to share with you today. My apple tree has been attacked by bag worms. Here’s one of the branches that was affected:
I cut off the three branches that had them. Then I bought some copper fungicide and soaked the rest of the tree in it.
Copper fungicide is just what it sounds like: copper. Nothing else. It creates a sort of wax coating over the leaves to protect it from insects. The squirrels had stolen my apples from the tree (I know, I’ve had a bad year this year!) so there was no fruit for those little bag worms to destroy. I’m hoping that my little tree will recover and give me more apples next year.
So, that’s all for now garden gals and guys! Until next time…
Happy farming!