Late, but...N&C Midwest Aug 2015

Well, what are all of YOU doing in your gardens this month?  Tonight I am about to harvest my first ripe tomatoes.  I missed the window of planting crops to harvest in fall, especially since it looks like we may be having an early winter (fall is in the air here!).

The heat has finally broken - it has been brutal - 98F with 80+% humidity   Friday and Saturday.  The heat index was 105-110.  Now it is 66 and we are definitely getting the dry fall wind that gets the leaves ready to drop.  Sooooooooooooooooooooo, I am concentrating on cleaning up the yard, changing my spiral herb bed (overrun with thistles and volunteer sunflowers) into a patio, and cleaning up the back 2 boxes that never got cleaned and planted this spring.

Hopefully I will have some peppers to harvest soon.  My fall planting will consist of GARLIC!!!

Here in Ohio, I am just now getting tomatoes (Brandywine) out the yinyang...yum! BLTs here we come! And pulled my taters and 6 carrots, so will plant kale (first time) and some lettuce (also first time since my original SFG in the 90s) Am thinking of some onions, or carrots just to see if they can go the run....borderline time wise. And radishes. Maybe beets. Or spinach. My squash have deflated, so there may be room.

i just pulled my lettuce that went to seed and replanted with spinach.  put a note on calendar to plant more spinach in a month as well. . .  btw, spinach overwinters well in zone 5. . .we love moving the snow in march and harvesting spinach then.  it's super sweet.

tomatoes just got busy finally - weather in ohio has been not favorable for my peppers or tomatoes. . or it could be the location - we moved last year and this is first garden in new house.

my basil, oregano, several varieties of mint (planted thruout the landscaping) are doing well - and i'm optimistic i won't have to mulch around the lilies, hostas and all the other flowering landscape elements in a couple of years d/t the infiltration of all the yummy mints. .. (i know it's invasive and for my intention it's perfect - esp since i hate weeding.).

rosemary and lavender are also doing well - i put them in with the landscaping as well because they're perennial.  my plan long term is to take over the entire front yard with a mix of edibles and pretties.

i will be planting beets soon for fall. (on calendar to do 8/30 and 8/31).  i'm trying to figure out a good new local provider of garlic for me since i moved and don't want to drive to my old county just for garlic bulbs for planting, but i will if i need to. (i didn't put in a garden last year because house went on market - so we didn't save any bulbs from year before's harvest - we ate them all.  yum.)

i want to plant tulips soon, too but i need to remember to buy some chicken wire to hopefully thwart all the squirrels from digging them up.

the sunflower garden has been very successful - i planted a 4' x 15' section of just many different varieties of sunflowers in order to get my ground ready for raised beds (sfg of course) next year.  sunflowers choked out all the grass and weeds for me so it's been double fun - pretty to look at and nice for me to realize i don't have a lot of soil prep to do before i lay down the wood frames and fill with the magic growing blend.

i have been having a LOT of cucumbers.  those i planted on time.  the watermelon and canteloupe i got in late and they are just now producing blooms - so i am still hoping for some fruit. . .we'll see.  next year i'll be on time with planting now that those beds are established.



ps i plant according to moon phase calendar.  really works well for me.

here's link:  http://www.almanac.com/content/planting-moons-phase-region-2

moon phase planting calendar

Tomatoes are beginning to come on, but I won't have the record harvest of last year.  I have gotten enough cukes for a batch of freezer pickles, but that is it.  Kale has been a star as have the carrots, planted squares of radishes, lettuces and kale this past weekend.

Betty, I did not know spinach would survive winter! That would be great!

try it!  worst that will happen - it won't.

we learned beets and carrots do NOT overwinter.  they're ok to harvest if you catch them before they freeze.  after that, they are mushy.

Will definitely try....I love spinach. Have you grown the legendary kale?

yes.  kale overwinters well.  second year it flowers.   i am thinking about putting kale in my landscaping next year along with brussell sprouts.  (brussel sprouts are teh COOLEST looking plants, but take FOREVER (it seems) to come to harvest.  the plants themselves really lend to being landscaping accents because of the large green foliage and tall plant. . .

Really? I have never grown Brussels spouts either. Are they picky about soil? my regular garden has clay, not the best for vegetables. My perrenials do well there, but I failed year after year with the vegetable gardens there.

re:  brussel sprouts and soil - i don't know.  i just know that when i plant, amend the soil well with mel's mix - or at least a lot of compost. 

i was fortunate to buy this house from a 30+ year gardener (flowers) so she has really made the beds gloriously fertile. . .i do find clay but it's well intermixed so hasn't been that big of a deal (thus far).

I ran into trouble with tomatoes, peppers, and squash; heavy feeders

bettyann wrote:yes.  kale overwinters well.  second year it flowers.   i am thinking about putting kale in my landscaping next year along with brussell sprouts.  (brussel sprouts are the COOLEST looking plants, but take FOREVER (it seems) to come to harvest.  the plants themselves really lend to being landscaping accents because of the large green foliage and tall plant. . .

When I lived in England I was surrounded by fields of brussel sprouts, but I would never, ever, think of them as landscaping plants.

As spring came in, the plants would start to decompose and stink for several weeks.
I made sure I sold my house in the fall.

I agree that a kale plant does make a very nice accent.

Kelejan that makes sense! Lol

i have no interest in a field of brussel sprouts.  2 plants are perfect for my household.  and at such a low number they DO look cool as a green landscape accent, interplanted amongst the hostas and lilies. . .   most folks don't realize what they are til fall when you see the brussel sprout little bulbs really become noticable. . .once first frost hits, we pick them next day for harvest as the frost made them super sweet.  <3

it's all about perspective.  thank you for sharing your opinion of brussel sprouts.

i always pull my plants right after harvest so there's never any 'bad' smells wafting about. . .unless my tween boys are having a flatulence contest nearby. .  . 

bettyann wrote:yes.  kale overwinters well.  second year it flowers.   i am thinking about putting kale in my landscaping next year ...

Excellent idea! My favorite local nursery sells lots of different ornamental kales. They're all still edible, too. But many are quite beautiful, from short wide plants with cream-colored or violet centers to tall ones with frilly green or purple or green AND purple leaves, etc. etc. They look as pretty as any other plants to me.

It's pretty cool that when you get tired of them or whenever it might seem like a good idea, you can just pluck some tasty leaves for dinner or cut the whole plant out at a time. Plus, many will overwinter and provide color and/or food for the winter.

BettyAnn, I Would only do one plant to start I think...since I have never grown Brussels sprouts ever..

Marc, I never thought about the pretty kale as edible, but I am sure it is! I bought seeds of some regular variety, but see no reason not to grow an ornamental for variety!

Well, heading out the door to pick tomatoes, beans if there are any, see if I have a pepper yet , maybe a squash, basil, or whatever else is ready. Then to plant lettuce & kale. Then water. Neglected the garden last weekend so lots to do. Might put in some spinach and radishes too, those will do well I think!

OK just spent an hour out there....why have the Japanese beetles not gone away? they are still eating my beans relentlessly....the Kentucky Wonder have been very prolific despite the decimation....

Watered, tied up the new and surprising growth onthe Brandywines! Didn't plant, should have.. there has been so much shrinkage of my MM due to the 6 inches of leaves under the layer that it has completely deflated.....composting itself, however, makes for a bit of a conundrum.

I'm still finding plenty of Japanese beetles, and they have all but killed off my cowpeas, runner beans, and royal burgundy beans in my backyard. They're a pretty bad pest; not just all those holes in the leaves, but the dang bacterial wilt. Today is probably the day I bring myself to just pull up some of the dying beans.

So you have my sympathies! And empathy. Never have been able to get rid of the guys and I suppose I never will.

Back before I went organic, Sevin dust did work. But it also kills everything good too, so no more easy chemical fixes. I was under the impression that there was a JB season....here, it is Summer

I didn't try Neem oil, maybe next year!