August Gardens

In spite of a rather lax attitude on my part, once everything was finally planted, the vegetable gardens are lush and fruitful!

The zucchini and pattypan squash have slowed, but for a while, it seemed like there were 10 new squashes every day -- of both varieties! They are still producing, but at a more manageable pace.

 

Our cucumbers last year withered into nothing, so this year I planted more cucumber plants than I care to counts. Three different varieties, two of which are doing incredibly well. Straight 8 - I don't remember where I bought this variety -- plants are growing like weeds. And the Marketmore, which I bought from Johnny's Seeds, are doing well -- if not as fabulously well as the Straight 8.

We have lovely broccoli, purple cauliflower, chard, kale, green and purple beans, rainbow carrots, winter squash, corn and 4 different varieties of tomatoes -- with the very first fruit about to turn red. I'm sure I've forgotten something.

Nasturtiums are supposed to help keep the bugs away. We've had Japanese beetles and cucumber beetles, but the nasturtiums are pretty.

Meanwhile, we did make it to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens on a rainy Sunday for their fairy festival, which was very sweet. The rain only put a small kink in our day. There were lots of indoor activities, and when we did want to be outside, J didn't seem to mind getting her wings wet.

We are due for another visit on a sunny September weekend.

We are heading into blueberry-picking season, and the Union Fair, some more summer weather, maybe a few days at Sebago Lake and soon apple-picking season.