The Late Summer Garden

It’s time to be honest about what my garden looks like in late August, near the end of the summer season. You’ll see the lowlights and a few highlights. It’s been a difficult summer with more fog and cool than usual and the Powdery Mildew that ensued. But inevitably, the promise and the tidy appearance of the newly planted garden gives way to the time of full production and then the decline. That’s where we are.

The zinnias continue to bloom with vigor though you can’t see the powdery mildew that I wash off most mornings. Behind them the last of the corn stalks have been removed. We harvested about three dozen ears of corn from the 4 foot by 5 foot space.

Here’s what’s left of my three tomato plants. I’m hoping there is enough foliage to support ripening of the remaining fruit—especially the ‘Black Krim.’

The two zucchini plants, melded as one now produce new leaves at the rate that I remove mildewed ones. A dousing with fish-seaweed emulsion helped. There are a half dozen small zucchinis but they’re not sizing up. I cut out the ones that begin to rot.

Most of the delicata and butternut squash leaves were diseased and so cut off but with liquid fertilizer the butternut has a flush of new growth to support the fruit. I pinch off any new flowers. A succession planting of ‘Provider’ bush beans yields well even in part sun.

Trimmed of the powdery mildewed leaves, the new cucumber growth climbs the trellis. The tiny cucumbers don’t seem to be maturing even with our very warm days. I will probably remove the plants soon. The bell peppers look very tired though they’re extremely productive. They usually continue until Thanksgiving but with the powdery mildew, not this year.

A highlight is the ‘Dorsett Golden’ espaliered apple which is growing a prodigious second crop of apples for the season.

The navel orange and tangerine trees are doing well, readying winter fruit.

The rhubarb recharges for next year. The patio blueberry bush, kumquat and lime trees benefit from these now warm days in the 80’s. Marionberries put out healthy new canes and the artichoke thrives.

So for all the disappointments at this time in August, it’s worth remembering the bounty of cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, peppers, bush beans, zucchini and fruit that has made its way to my kitchen and to grateful neighbors. And of course there are the bouquets of zinnias.