The 2010 main season is over....August Summary

and it was such an intense season that I stopped posting after July 27th!  Eek!  Since the point of this blog is to help me learn what works, and what does not......I will try to remember the details since August!

AUGUST:
So I went on vacation for two weeks and had an AMAZING garden sitter- Gina Faber.  She took such great care of my garden, sent me email about its progress and questions about what I planted.  It really was a relief to know someone so good was watching my garden.  She even used piola on the blister beetles!  If she hadn't done that, I don't know what would have been left.  Anyhow, she saved alot of the harvest for me in the freezer, ate alot for herself, and donated to Interfaith kitchen!  So what a great 2- weeks. When I got back, everything looked good - just other parts of the house looked crazy.  The weeds took over our patio area by the pond - gotta see if there is anything I can do about that next year!  The rest of August was very dry, here is what I remember?

• My tomato harvest was VERY, VERY good.  I made alot of salsa, and basic sauce.  I was abit worried that I wouldn't have enough tomatoes, so I used my 'tab' at PVF and bought (2) ponies of tomatoes.  Looking back on that time, I actually had tons of tomatoes myself and didn't need to necessarily buy my own. Anyhow, the salsa is a big hit and I hope I have enough for the winter season! 
• Had alot of papaya squash and ultimately I ripped it out.  The stink bugs were pretty bad  on the squash and I decided to end a good thing, I pulled all the plants in hopes of stopping the 'reproduction' festival.  One thing I don't like in the garden is 'chaos'........well bad chaos like an infestation and I opt to pull when this happens.
• SPRITE MELONS like crazy! I actually mixed the Sprites with another melon.  They both were sweet and delicious and we used them alot, gave away alot, and froze alot for winter smoothies.  Planted too many, took over the whole bed and then some!
• Sweet Potatoes love their new bed.  They were gorgeous and beautiful. I learned from PVF that you can EAT the leaves!  This became my new favorite addition to green smoothies.  Easy taste, and just yummy.
• Pulled the Romanesco.  Not sure if it was too hot, but it never produced fruit.
• Perennial onions doing great.....
• Pumpkins, delicata, Boston Marrow and Coosa doing great....but the stink bugs got the upper hand.  I tried to kill what I could, so before they took over I ended up getting some Coosa. They were DELICIOUS, and if I can manage the pests, I would grow them again.

So for August, I think that is a good summary.