Bean Blight and My First Ripe Tomato

Yesterday, R spotted the first ripe medium-sized tomato of the season.  This is a Moskvich, and is one of several early varieties I'm growing this year.  "Early" to me means that these varieties should be half-way ripe by now.  With the exception of five cherry tomatoes, however, this is the only tomato that appears anything other than green.  I'm trying not to feel anxious about it, despite the change in the air, the quality of light, and the sense that the season is winding down and shifting into Fall.  We still have 2/3 of August left and, with any luck, several weeks of warm weather in September.

One of the dry bean varieties I was most looking forward to growing out was Molasses Face.  For the first time since I began gardening, something (blight?) has damaged one of my bean crops.  I hoped for weeks that it would only effect the leaves and that some the beans would develop normally.  Unfortunately, whatever has wrecked the leaves is now affecting the beans as well.  I am not ready to pull them out and compost them, though I fear that's where this is heading.  Such a shame.  It was a brand new package of seeds!

It looks like we'll have 4 good-sized cabbages and one tiny one.  A few of the cabbage transplants didn't make it.  I didn't buy red cabbage transplants this year, as I am always left with way more of it than I can use (and R doesn't eat it).  I will grow a few again next summer, though, as I really missed its colour in the garden! 

Turnips!  This is my first time growing turnips.  There are a few things I'll do differently if I grow them again.  They take up a lot of space, so I will plant them in a single row (instead of the double row I did this year), along the back edge of a container or the garden, and I will force myself to thin them once they've sprouted.  (One of my weaknesses - I hate doing away with healthy seedlings, even though I know the result will be larger, healthier plants if I thin what comes up!) 

Lemon yellow dahlias

Summer Savoury.  Though I don't use it often in my cooking, I love the smell of Summer Savoury.  It looks pretty in the garden, especially once it starts putting out tiny flowers.  Thyme and majorum can smell musty to me, but Summer Savoury always smells green and fresh.

Yet another picture of a leek going to see.  I just think it's so pretty.  :-)

Though I planted this variety of tomato as an afterthought and was not emotionally invested in how well it did, the Yellow Taxis have pleasantly surprised me!  They are not ripe yet, but they have produced an abundance of firm, perfect little spheres on the two plants I have.  If they ripen well and are flavourful, I will definitely save seeds from the Yellow Taxis.

The Eva Purple Balls, another early variety, also seem to be doing well.  They are similar to the Yellow Taxis in shape and size, though not as tightly clustered on the plant.   I admit to being more invested in how they turn out, for whatever reason! 

Yellow Taxi tomatoes - not ripe quite yet!