Yes, I have reached the point where I am waiting for it all to be over, and it will be over in another 4 to 6 weeks. The cornstalks are drying down - corn is long over - but the sorghum still looks pretty green. I hope it ripens. The brassicas have had a new lease on life now that the swede midge season is over until next spring. I need to nip the tops here; there is a chance there might be Brussels sprouts.
Leeks look okay; the leek moth appear to be somewhat active but they are growing nicely; considerably larger in the fall than the first generation of this cross, apart from just a couple of stragglers. There is Ethiopian kale gone to seed in the upper left; it really is more like mustard and I didn't know what to do with it. Looks like I get to try again. The celeriac in the upper right is the best looking celeriac - above ground, anyway, that I have ever managed to grow, although there are three plants that seem to have some kind of virus.
Out best cabbage, which rates as "okay". The outer leaves show the damage done by the swede midge, but once they quit for the season cabbages have actually started to form. I will leave them as long as possible, in the hopes of getting a few more usable ones.
We've transplanted strawberries into the new bed - they should be moved every three years or so, and it's been more like six - and they are settling in nicely. They should be; there was over 5" of rain right after they went in. The bad news is, a full bed (with room to spread) of strawberry starts doesn't even leave a mark on the old beds. We'll leave them for another year; I don't think we'll get much production from these new ones next year, although you never know.
The nights are cool enough we are keeping the peppers and sweet potatoes covered. In fact, sweet potatoes should come out in the next couple of days. Normally we would nurse them along a little longer, but we clearly have some kind of rodent infestation in the garden and they are targeting them, along with the carrots to a lesser degree.
Tomatoes are winding down. We are going to have green tomatoes like we haven't had in years, thanks to a very late start on them forming, thanks to that awful frost on May 28th. But we have 40 litres of tomato sauce, and there should be enough to have a dozen or so litres of crushed tomatoes too. And lots of Chow Chow, which is fine. Our cukes were bust so there will be no Cucumber Relish.
Amazingly still getting a few zucchini from some of the plants. They grow much slower know but usually the plants are overwhelmed by mildew early in September. There are a couple that got away, but unfortunately, the one I was specifically saving for seed rotted and fell off. I'm very sad about it, but I will try to recreate that cross so far as I am able next year.
Spinach planted in late summer is finally going. It really perked up after that 5" of rain. Can't say we've gotten a lot of use out of the very expensive irrigation system, and it will be a lot of work and inconvenience to get it stashed for the winter. Ho hum.
Got a few maxima squash in spite of the borers, along with a good harvest of expected butternuts and unexpected acorn squash. Unexpected, because one sprouted in the compost pile. We left it, and it looks like it has 10 good fruits on it! Amazing, what you can achieve with good compost.
The last of the watermelons. They are small, and I have pretty much lost interest in them.
Fortunately the rodents seem uninterested in our late planted turnips (planted with the spinach). These ones are my favourite Goldana and they are looking great.
This red one is a new for us; Scarlet Ohno Revival. I'd like to see what happens if crossed with Goldana, but that will have to wait for next year. I haven't even eaten any yet.
And that takes us to the end of September (*ahem*). I'll write some more about the breeding projects in a week or so. Right now it's garden clean up time - we need to get at least one bed finished for the winter every day from now until mid November, so it's going to busy.
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