3rd Quarter Grades - August 15

I've been a bit slack in keeping the blog updated. A busy work schedule, a camping trip, etc. have contributed to my blog-less state!

However, I have not been slack in the garden. With thanks to my dear wife and children, and our neighbors, the garden has been happily tended when I have been MIA.

Now that we're hitting the tail end of the official summer (we had a heat wave hit here a couple of weeks ago, but the weather has now descended into 70's and 80's with intermittent rain), I though I should update things. In the spirit of "back to school" (which a couple of my sons will experience next week), I have decided to pass out grades for my garden:

Weeds - A
What does this mean? That I've been successful in keeping them under control? Or that they've been menacing my gardening? Well, a little of both. The planters themselves have been nice and weed-free for the most part. A few stragglers exist, easily pulled, or shaded into obscurity by the dominant vegetable plants. Outside of the planters, it is amazing how the weeds will flourish! I had the grounds CLEAN more than once this summer. I did so in mid-July, before our August camping trip. HOWEVER, just last weekend I had to hurry-up and cut down some prolific flowering and seeding weeds before they spread their legacy into my next year's plans. Definitely will be in the 2010 garden (frown).

Beans - A
The green and purple pole beans have done extremely well, producing an abundant crop, more than we can eat! The taste of fresh beans is wonderful! The purple beans grew more vigorously and matured earlier than the green - the green beans came on later but have picked up the slack as the purple are waning. Definitely will be in the 2010 garden.

Lettuce - A
I've had really good results with the lettuce, particularly the butter leaf varieties. Nice growth through July (when it got a little warm) before bolting. I grew a few rows between the bean trellises, which was a nice choice to fill in the dead space. Definitely there in 2010.

Zucchini - B
Great plants - lush, HUGE leaves. They seemed to take a little longer than expected to flower and fruit. The production has been good, but not nearly as vigorous as what I remember in the good ol' Central Valley: there, six plants were OVERKILL for a family of 5+! A similar number here has been nice, but not overwhelming. Will be there in 2010.

Beets - C
Still waiting to harvest them. They seem to be a little late in maturing, and not quite the size I would expect. Planted them in June, so I thought we'd have them by now. There are some small ones that I'll pull out today. Seems like last year they were late, too. Last year, the leaves were nice additions to the various stir-fry. 2010 - I'm a sucker for beets, so I'll probably have a few.

Turnips - C
They seemed to do better last year. I haven't harvested one yet. There are a couple that look ready. Fairly vigorous. 2010? We'll see - I'll probably plant them.

Sweet peas - C
Nice overall production, but the plants really fizzle out quickly. I have them in the same box as the beans, and they did start producing a little earlier, but for overall production, they just don't match the beans. Also, this variety is a sugar pea variety, so when the pods start to fill-out, the peas tend to be a little woody. Not sure if I will plant them in 2010, as they are best right off of the plant, and the household is not passionate about peas.

Crookneck - D
Really disappointed. They live in the same planter as the zucchini, they look just as beautiful as far as plants go, but only ONE actually harvested to date. There are lots of little ones, but nothing that resembles a harvestable squash. I'll not plant them in 2010.

Tomatoes - D-
Sob, sob. The plants are GREAT, very lush, much better looking than last year, BUT nothing yet to eat! Not even the cherry or pear tomatoes - I did have those to munch on this time last year. Perhaps the plants need to be "stressed" more - possibly a little chopping to the roots. I can't really cut back on watering too much, now that nature is kicking in. The weather is cooling. I have 1 1/2 planter boxes with them, and I had thoughts about having 2 next year with multiple varieties. I'm not so inclined, now. I think we need an actual hothouse to make this worthwhile. Ugh. I better like $5 tomatoes if I go that route! I'll plant them in 2010, but I better find some way to make it work.

Corn - I
The corn is forming ears, and should be ready in a couple of weeks (the first planting). I should have planted them 2-3 weeks earlier. Mental note for next year.

Pumpkins - I
I planted this short-maturing variety a little bit late (since the so-called maturity guide on the packet would have put them maturing in August if I planted them in early June, far too early for Halloween), but the plants are a little small, some flowers, no setting fruit yet. Hmmmm. I hope I get at least 5 decent pumpkins.

So that's the mid-August 2009 4x8 Farmer's report...

Stay tuned!