End of September update

Last chance to post in September, here is a quick update. As the weather begins to cool off, there are several things in the garden that should be harvested. The lettuce in frame three has been ready for a couple of weeks. The remaining kale continues to put out new leaves and there are quite a few leaves that haven't been harvested for weeks. There are a couple of cucumbers and lots of parsley. Also, it is time to dig out the potatoes which were left in the ground to cure to see if there are any unaffected by the blight.

My mind has turned to all of the tasks around the yard that need to be completed before the really cold weather sets in. Still, I am hoping to cover the garden with some kind of greenhouse structure to see how far the season can be extended. Also, I would like to plant some garlic.

Sowing spinach and lettuce

With all of the spaces freed up from tomatoes and melons, I had the equivalent of a full garden box available. This was planted with several varieties of lettuce and spinach. Overall, I planted about 70 lettuce and 18 spinach. I am interested to see if these will mature before the weather gets really cold and will be experimenting with some form of inexpensive greenhouse or row cover to extend the season. The goal is to have enough greens to pick throughout the winter.

Autumn is approaching

Friday evening I planted 8 kale seedlings and picked the last of the cherry tomatoes (about 2 cups). Last night, 32 spinach seeds were planted. In recent weeks, I have visited gardens across Western and Central New York have seen no melon, potato or tomato plants unaffected by blight.

Leaves on the trees are starting to turn. Goldenrod, white snakeroot, flax and purple loosestrife are the most abundant wildflowers in bloom.

Tomato blight

Well, not long after I was bragging about how well my tomatoes were doing, I came out to the garden to find my plants consumed by the late blight. I did some research and found that it has been particularly bad in the Northeast this year. I picked all of the fruit but much of it had to be thrown out. We enjoyed the tomatoes while they lasted. On the bright side, this opens up a lot of squares for planting Fall crops and we harvested enough basil to make some nice pesto. I will be planting spinach, kale and lettuce tomorrow evening. Pictured to the right, one of the more unusual bugs that have visited the garden this summer.