The heat is taking its toll

Most people's gardens have already perished for the year in these parts, and can easily be seen by anyone driving down the road. Red tomatoes amidst a few twigs that were once vines is commonplace, and weeds have established their dominance in the landscape once again. It's a shame that most backyard gardeners only get about 2-3 months to grow their favorite warm weather veggies before the plants die, because they sure are missing out on alot of gardening opportunity...
Shoot.....we can grow tomatoes from April 15th to October 15th, and I take full advantage of it. Although they aren't doing a whole lot right now, the last 6 weeks before frost should really pick up again...

Anyway, I wanted to show you some current garden photos. Although not as pretty as earlier in the year - at least there's still alot of green foliage out there. Due to the excessive heat of late, it's as good as can be expected.

Photo below - man, just look at the foliage from the sweet potatoes....it's going crazy, and should provide a good source of nitrogen for the compost pile later. At least 30 lbs. of harvest would be great from these 4 containers this year, and we'll just have to wait until the last 2 weeks of September to find out how they did.

Photo below - here's the 4x8 bed with Cherokee Purple tomatoes growing in it. Some of the foliage is turning brown, but still continues to set fruit. Due to the small sized fruit of late, another side-dressing of fertilizer will take place this weekend. That should be the last one for the year, which should get them to maturity.

Photo below - the cucumbers growing in the 34 gallon swc are beginning to experience some serious foliage problems now. This is due to the heat, cucumber beetles, and powdery mildew that shows up during this time of year. No biggie....we've been giving cucumbers away for a month now, and certainly don't need anymore. Besides, there are still 8 more plantings on the property, which continue to yield also.

Photo below - the foliage is diminishing rather quickly on the tomato plant to the right, but thankfully is yielding some really big tomatoes right now. This is the planting that has been hit hardest by my little bushy-tailed nemesis that continues to elude a quick death by way of shotgun.....Oh...i'll get it - you watch and see.

In other news, the swc's on the property are drinking water like crazy, and even the 18 gallon one by Jude's pen is putting on a new round of fresh growth. Although no melons are left on the vines, there's still enough time left in the season for some to form and reach maturity.
The broccoli and cauliflower that was sowed a week ago in small pots have germinated already, and will get some controlled sunshine over the next 6-7 weeks. They'll be grown in swp's this fall, and hopefully will perform as good as last years' crop. Going with "Green Goliath" broccoli this time will surely produce larger heads than the "De Cicco" of last time. We'll find out!

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG