Zinnia Flowers

Some parts of our garden are thriving and others are suffering. We had almost two full weeks of daily rain early in July with not much sunshine. All that dampness caused most of our cucumbers and one bed of squash and zucchini to be overcome with powdery mildew.

The front part of our garden that gets the most sunshine is doing better than the beds in the back that get less sun.

All the extra moisture hasn’t helped our tomatoes any either, but the winter squash, watermelon, and pumpkin patch is really doing well.

Watch the video below to see how everything looks.

By the time I do the August garden tour the summer garden will mostly be on its way out. Even with the disappointment of fighting powdery mildew and splitting tomatoes the food we’ve harvested has been top notch. I do believe eating straight from the garden is the best eating of the year.

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10 Comments

  1. It is so good to just go out and get fresh food in your own garden. So much better than the store. So fresh. I actually can a few if tomatoes this morning. I get to can bout 6, 7 jars at a time cause that’s about all the tomatoes I get at a time. But I always say that much is better than nothing. I always love to grab a hand full of tommy toes to eat while I’m out there.

  2. Sorry that the weather didn’t cooperate with you this year. Maybe the rest of the season will be better.
    I wish I could explain my garden failure the same way. It wasn’t that it failed me but I failed it. If I could have tended it properly I would have had the best garden I’ve ever had. My kids offered to come and help me back in the winter but when it came time to turn offers into action they had more pressing things to do. But it’s all OK. I’ll still get enough but I won’t have anything to give away.

  3. You all and your garden are amazing. I thought you didn’t have much room, yet you grow so many things. What would you do if you had lots of room? (My wife is afraid for me to find out.) I think yiu would experiment.

    I had the same problem with powdery mildew and Japanese beetles. Mildew killed most of the cucumbers and all the cantaloupe. Beetles stripped our apple tree and the Rattlesnake beans until I just pulled the beans up in disgust. It happens every year but is so very frustrating. Like you, I don’t like to use pesticides but mainly the beetles start at the very top, way above my head and eat their way down. Meanwhile the bean beetles show up and finish off whatever they leave.

    You are so right about every year being different. This year, for the first time ever, the jalapeno peppers are just sitting, not blooming, not growing. I haven’t had the first jalapeno and have had few bell pepper. The Big Marconi have saved us with peppers. The basil was similar. It just sat and sat for the longest before it tried to grow. Even now it is less than knee high. I have a yellow tommy-toe tomato that is about 7 feet high but has not had the first ripe tomato. Strange. As you say, the gardening life.

  4. Thank you for the garden tour. So many beautiful things! I think the green and white squash is my favorite of what you showed us today. Great work!

  5. Beautiful tour of your garden! My tommy toes have produced abundantly and how wonderful it is to step out on our patio and pick off a yellow orange tommy toe eating it right there. Oh so good!! Even in small containers I have been blessed with wonderful tomatoes, bell peppers, yellow squash and cucumbers. Like others have said you just can’t beat fresh from the garden.

  6. Tipper–I really enjoyed the tour, and your mixed tale of success and failure is the garden’s eternal lot. Ever changing, never the same, always a challenge and in the final analysis, always a delight.
    You must love Joe Pye weeds because I saw a number of them lurking on the edges. They are enjoyable because of the way they attract butterflies.
    I wonder if you are beginning to consider me an enemy because of the ground cherries I gave you years ago. I did warn you! By the way, if you haven’t done so, trying making ground cherry salsa.
    Another tip you don’t mention involves Japanese beetles. If you get after them first thing in the morning or at dusk they can’t fly. Run an inch or two of water in the bottom of a large bucket, add a few drops of liquid soap, and knock the beetles off leaves into the liquid. It will put the quietus on them, although I doubt if chickens would like soapy beetles. You never know though, because both beetles and June bugs smell terrible yet there’s complete truth to the old adage about jumping on something like a chicken on a June bug. I’m going to send you a photo or two of crowder peas to show you just how well they can sometimes do. Thanks for the tour.
    Jim Casada

  7. Tipper, there is nothing like fresh garden food and I am so fortunate that you and the Deer Hunter are so willing to share with me. I have a lovely Cherokee tomato sitting on the counter for a fresh tomato sandwich! I’m plannng on having it for lunch today…can you tell that I am excited about that? It will be my first of the year!

  8. My squash plants are also suffering from powdery mildew. I came across some info I am trying. Mix 40 percent milk and 60 percent water in a spryer. Spray squash in the heat of the day when sun is hot. It helped my squash plants a lot.

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