2013 Midseason Report

Well, it's midseason, and this has been a disappointing year for a number of reasons. Overall, it's been a cool, rather wet summer. Today's high was 74 degF, in the middle of August when we normally have blistering heat. Also, our yard is shadier this year than last year. Our neighbor's Norway maples are just that much bigger, and more of the garden is in shade. In another few years, I may have to revert a good chunk of garden to lawn, or possibly just grow a lot more strawberries. And finally, rather mysteriously, my earthworms seem to have all vanished. This worries me more than everything else combined. Well, whatever the reason, it's been a tough year so far.

The potatoes keep not being ready. They should have been ready by the end of June. I think I made a mistake in placement. When we realized that our drip irrigation system would be blocked by our potato boxes, I reasonably moved the boxes to the ends of the rows. But there were two problems I hadn't considered. First, that's the shady end of the garden. Second, we discovered that the water pressure isn't high enough to push water up the drip tape into the tops of the boxes. Poor sunlight and less water equals poor production.

The squashes are having a tough time with fungal infections in all this rain. Five out of six of my zucchini plants' stems rotted out. Only one robust plant remains, the source of the impressive 16-inch zukes. (I am definitely saving that seed!) Similarly, the spaghetti squash, kabocha squash, and pumpkins are struggling, and the patty pans have yet to produce a single fruit.

The cucumbers are dying back two weeks early due to unseasonably cool weather. This has a pleasant counterbalance: the broccoli is still producing happily in the middle of August. This weekend, I'll be planting fall peas in their place, and I have more broccoli and cauliflower starting in the greenhouse.

The corn has been... odd. Only half of the blue corn came up at all. I started some more in the greenhouse and planted it, but it has yet to put out pollen, and I'm concerned the ears on the older stalks won't pollinate properly. Meanwhile, the sweet corn came up fine, but no one warned me that edamame grows four feet tall! It's overgrowing and stunting the corn, so I'm not looking at a great crop there either.

Several attempts to reseed carrots have simply failed, and I'm not sure why.

But we do have some nice successes. The tomatoes, despite quite a bit of early blight, are going gangbusters now. This weekend, I'm hoping to make tomato jelly. The New Zealand spinach was a huge success and very tasty. The eggplants and peppers are starting to come in, the beets have been growing like mad, and the beans and kale are as prolific as ever. And the basil! Big bushy beautiful basil! We have quite a few cantaloupes on the vine but not many watermelons. I have no idea if they'll make it to ripeness in this cool weather. In fact, even with the disappointments, we are hard pressed to keep up with harvesting, though that may have more to do with me going back to work.

So perhaps it's just as well that we're not inundated with food. Still, I can't help feeling disappointed. I grand plans for canning, and thus far, I've put up only three quarts of bread-and-butter pickles and two quarts of raspberry preserves, plus two gallon bags of frozen beans. Well, it's only midseason. We'll see what the fall brings.