September bounty

Did a bit of harvesting from the garden yesterday. Production has reached a seasonal high and until the first frost it will only be a matter of keeping up with eating it all or finding a home for the extra produce. Tomatoes have yielded the best so far, and surprisingly, the beans keep on going. I was forced to cut down the sunflower head after I noticed that something had begun to nibble at the edges of the seeds. I later discovered a squirrel running down the stalk, dismayed probably at having his easy source of seeds taken away.

Also, to my delight, I realized all was not lost on the eggplant front. A separate plant I had hidden in the empty cold frame had survived the raccoons plundering and had reached a rather respectable size, now ripe for the picking. All in all a good day to be a gardener.

Feel the heat

I've lacked the motivation lately to post on account of record breaking temperatures. Two days ago SeaTac topped out at 103, and it's been hovering in the 90s ever since. Considering the fact that my room is an attic room and I don't have a laptop, there was no way I could conceive of attempting an endeavor that sweaty. It finally started to cool off yesterday and today is hot, but certainly bearable. The garden has needed extra watering during the past week's heat wave. I typically water around twilight, and if I'm able for a short time in the late morning. The past two months have been near the driest on record for the Seattle area, with practically no measurable rainfall to speak of. Perhaps a sign of what's to come. I can't really complain though; a gardener can't ask for better weather to grow vegetables, but a little rain would be nice.

Yellow squash ready to be picked today or tomorrow

Quinoa clusters continue to fill out nicely

Golden bell peppers love the heat

The first sunflower opened up yesterday

Still the garden grows...

I returned from my week-long east coast jaunt late Wednesday night to find everything in the garden very much alive and well. A special thanks to everyone who helped while I was away. The volunteer sunflowers are over 8 feet tall and showing no signs of stopping their skyward ascent anytime soon. Entering the cloche in any fashion other than an army crawl verges on the impossible. Rattlesnake beans are fruiting readily, though the scarlet runners seem to have been spottily pollinated; each flower cluster only managed to produce two or three beans out of around fifteen blooms. Although one bean is nearly ten inches long.

As I understand it, frequent harvesting of beans and peas, tomatoes, zucchini, pretty much any fruiting vegetable, will encourage the plant to produce more fruit. In the case of peas and some beans, picking the pod when it's a bit on the young side will ensure it is tender (and delicious).

Quinoa continues to thrive. According to the seed package the plant was to reach a height of four feet; this one is over six.

The first zucchini fruits appear.

An updated photo of the garden's growth since last week.