I Will Grow Eggplants: Shorter Days, Harvest Coming In

Where did August go?

The days are getting noticeably shorter; no longer is the sun shining or the birds singing a chorus at 5:00AM. Nights have been cooler, around 10 degrees or below. Most tomato varieties have begin to ripen on the plants (especially Scotia, Dwarf Roza Vetrov, Katja, Garnet, and Javelin). The Amber tomatoes have been almost completely harvested, having lived up to their reputation of being early. The Swedish Red peas have been picked and brought inside to finish drying, as have the Weiner Treib beans. The calendula, zinnias, dahlias, and pansies are still going strong and small sunflowers, defying the odds, are blooming on stalks that were chewed off by deer earlier in the season. The tomatillos are covered in whimsical-looking "paper lanterns" and, though later to mature than expected, have produced enough to allow me to make a batch of salsa verde. Three batches of roma and filet beans have been picked; some blanched and frozen and some given away. As garden plants begin to die and decompose, gnats are filling the air. It's the one thing that makes me look forward to the first few hard frosts, the only thing that seems to get rid of them.

I would be lying if I said this hasn't been a challenging summer. Ongoing health problems have left me exhausted, unfocused, and overwhelmed. Growing an abundance of food, especially varieties that are rare or new to me, is usually a source of pleasure and fuel for my curiosity and enthusiasm. Feeling more drained and rudderless than accomplished or happy seems a clear signal that I will have to cut back next year or take a break entirely (something that would have been unthinkable a few years ago).

What follows is my best attempt at playing catch-up with garden notes from the past month. Click on pictures you wish to enlarge.

The garlic was harvested over a period of days, from late July to early August. The different varieties were bundled in groups of 5-8 and hung in the shed to cure. What is pictured is about a third of the garlic harvested. As the days have generally been mild (not hot), overcast, and drizzly this month, the garlic is still not cured.

The 'Saffron' summer squash and zucchini started to produce in earnest early this month. Here are a few of the first ones picked, on August 9th. Several have been turned into relish and muffins, and several have been given away since then!

Small pots of lettuce and the (nicely recovered) begonia:

Volunteer compost squash. Some small sugar warts are developing on the skin, so we think these might be Galeux D'Eysines. This picture was taken on August 12th; the squash are now a orange/salmon colour.

It was a pretty and uncharacteristically misty morning on August 14th.

North Georgia Candy Roaster squash, mid-August.

Bea watching the sun come up.

Rossa Lunga di Firenze onions. This is my first time growing these, and they have done well, thanks to plenty of rain this summer. I'm looking forward to tasting these later in the season. They certainly are a beautiful colour.

The cucumber bed, mid-August. There are pickling cucumbers, snacker cucumbers, and one Dragon's Egg cucumber plant in the bed.

The first pickling cuke :-)

Tomatoes on the south side of the house (one of several areas, alas, covered up by netting as protection against visiting deer). Taken August 14th.

In the North garden: calendula, zucchini, tomatillos, sunflower, and garlic to the right. (August 12th)

In the driveway: carrots, borage, zinnia, feverfew, tomatoes, potatoes. (August 12th)

Borage - it isn't especially robust or impressive-looking this year, but the bees enjoy it.

Close-up of the feverfew. This picture was taken mid-August. Now, many of the flowers are dry enough to allow for collecting seeds.

Raised bed with dry bush beans on each end, "Pink Blush" lavatera, and summer savoury. (August 12th)

Raised bed with Giant Musselburgh leeks, Rossa Lunga di Firenze onions, summer savoury, volunteer bachelor buttons, Anaheim peppers, dry bush beans, and a volunteer tomato plant. This is one packed bed. (August 12th)

Two shallow raised beds with onions, summer savoury, carrots, and a heritage dry bean mix (with runners). (August 12th)

The East garden. Weeds got away from me this year (the patch is basically carpeted with them), several volunteer tomato plants came up, and the sunflowers were bitten off early in the season. There is plenty growing there and I try to focus on that rather than allowing my nerves to become frazzled seeing the chaotic mess this garden is this summer. In the East garden: tomatillos, watermelon (a lost cause!), zucchini, 'Saffron' summer squash, skirret, calendula, kale, and three types of tomatoes: Fisher's Earliest Paste (doing well), Dwarf Emerald Giant (a very compact and late variety), and Kim's Civil War Oxheart (which seems to be suffering from BER).

Dry pole beans, mid-August, after a visiting deer snacked at midnight. (Note the conspicuous absence of leaves and flowers on the left side!)

Lou snoozing beneath the tomatoes.

Second picking of Roma beans...

...and a snack-sized picking of "Early Riser" pole beans.

The "Early Riser" pole bean set-up we have. There are four plants growing in a large pot.

"Sensation Mix" cosmos, all volunteers from last year's plants.

Some even popped up among the tomatoes.

A bundle of summer savoury.

"Bishop's Children" dahlias. This is my first time growing them. The picture doesn't do them justice; the colour is a deep, velvety, burgundy. The bees seem to love them.