gardening ~ september 2019 {neglecting?}

 black-eyed susans

 carrot tops

clematis

 sweet peppers

 blue beard and lemon balm

 honeysuckle

 balloon flower

Well, our schooling year has begun and the garden, in a nutshell, has been neglected. 

It's a good thing the heavy harvests were in August, when I had time for them.

Jesse and I spent last Saturday morning doing yard work, but other than that I've just been maintaining the mowning and weeding here and there half-heartedly!

As far as harvesting, the squash are still putting on a good show, and we eat it fresh probably three days a week. One final bed of potatoes needs to be harvested as well as two carrot beds. 

It seems like I haven't harvested many tomatoes, but they are still trickling in and we have almost 60 pounds. That is nothing to snub, but in past years I've been overrun with tomatoes. It was nice not to be overwhelmed with produce this year, I guess it was simply an odd feeling. 

One task for the autumn will be dealing with moles! I recently discovered more than one tunnel near the back of our yard, not near our vegetable beds, thankfully. Apparently, the traps are not merciful, but those pests must be taken care of or they will destroy our yard.  Recently, the evening's weather was so lovely we were able to sleep with the widows open - a gift  at this time in the midwest! - so we heard an interesting sound which turned out to be a group of racoons in the yard. Jesse was able to get them to move along via pellet gun, but did say that if they see a mole they will "take care of it."  What drama for a simple back yard. Previously, we've had issues with possums, skunks and been visited by many a hawk interested in our chickens. All these events make for good stories, as long as my vegetables are left alone!

2019 Produce Totals ~ 293 pounds 8 ounces
Strawberries ~ 72 pounds
Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard ~ 8 pounds
Snow Peas ~ 10 pounds
Green Beans ~ 21 pounds
Beets ~ 7 pounds
Cucumbers ~ 26 pounds
Cherry Tomatoes ~ 5 pounds
Sweet Peppeters ~ 5 pounds
Garlic ~ 1 pound 5 ounces
Roma Tomatoes ~ 55 pounds
Beef Steak Tomatoes ~ 9 pounds
Onions ~ 3 pounds
Blackberries ~ 3 ounces
Carrots ~ 2 pounds
Squash ~ 19 pounds
Potatoes ~ 50 pounds