Summer is Winding Down

Just got back from the Swannanoa Gathering where I've been feeding my music addiction.  Time to get back to the business of feeding my hunger for good food!

While there's still plenty of good things to enjoy out of the garden, it's undeniable that summer is waning.  The tomatoes are showing more and more brown leaves and not much promise of future fruit.  The old squash plants are looking sad, and have all but stopped producing.  The cucumber plants are turning yellow, and the cukes are definitely stressed from dry conditions - constricted at one end and ballooned out at the other.  The bush beans have plenty of blossoms and baby beans, but they're not maturing well - probably a moisture issue. The pole beans look healthy, with blossoms, but no sign of beans. Thank goodness the long beans continue to produce well.  The okra is finally coming in strong.  Looks like we'll have a bumper crop of butternut squash!

The yellow squash plants that Andrew planted late in the season are starting to produce, and I see evidence of baby patty-pans to come.  The late-planted edamame  has succumbed to abuse ... looks like it's been eaten up by some critter that we were never able to observe.  The black bean plants are doing well.  It's yet to be seen if they have time to set fruit this growing season.