Garden Update: August 2014

This August has been so pleasant. It's 80 degrees with no humidity today. Am I in the South?? The weather really is odd this year. It should still be hot and humid but for the rest of this week, it is predicted that we will have pleasant humid free 80+ weather. LOVELY especially for starting more seeds and gardening in general.

As soon as the weather started getting cooler, my garden went into overdrive. Everything started to go to seed, or plants started to fruit again. Some of tomatoes that I felt were ready to pull out have started to produce again. My pumpkins are spreading and spreading...... here's a glimpse of the chaos garden...

I call it the chaos garden now because it is chaotic just like life. :-)  I grow with the flow these days since some of my plants seem to do whatever, whenever they want and I seem to have no control sometimes, things look crazy!! But it's also beautiful. I LOVE my garden when the plants decide for themselves that they want to spread or grow real huge. For instance, my pumpkins. I'm totally in love with this variety, Seminole pumpkins, native to the Florida everglades. The pumpkins aren't gi-normous and they fruit continuously. They are tough and produce these beautiful flattened or teardrop shaped pumpkins that turn tan when ripe...

I grew heirloom marigolds from seed this year. They were a bit scrawny when I planted them back in spring but they've all become these giant bushes. I have no idea what I did right but they've become a beautiful addition to my raised beds. The years prior, I've always bought my marigolds and they've never gotten this huge!!

In this bed, there are just 4 plants, my chives, two varieties of melons and a giant marigold bush.

This bed is basically cowpeas and marigolds right now. The cowpea pods are just starting to dry and ripen into storage beans!! So excited to be growing my own beans this year. The marigolds started out as two very small plants.... not anymore!

This is my turmeric now.

And my ginger.

 This is another Zatta Italian melon growing. There are probably three new melons on this plant now.

My Petite Gris de Rennes.

And one Italian Rampicante Zuccherino, a climbing sugar melon. Can't wait to eat this with prosciutto!! YUM!

It hasn't been the best year to grow, but it's still been good. I wished I had enough of the other crops to put up or pickle. Maybe next year. Happy gardening!!