A number of my summer plants are fading now.
The potato plants have all turned brown and I have cut off most. It will take me several weeks to dig them all, but once the bed is harvested, I will add compost and then plant garlic here in early October.
All of my summer squashes are at different stages of succumbing to fungi and root borers. I remove leaves when they yellow or turn white with mildew. The Zephyr squash in the photo has been wilted for a week and squashes are not setting. I'll remove this plant soon and use its spot for fall root or greens seedlings. I have a young zucchini seedling that I will plant soon, but in a different spot. Somehow this one got left behind and still looks nice. Maybe I can have fall zucchini?
Other places now free for fall seedlings are the onion and scallion beds, the spring beet and carrot bed, and cabbage and radicchio beds.
I am hoping the tomato bed is not up for grabs soon, but if so, plenty of fall seedlings to plant there.
My squash look exactly the same. :( It's just hasn't been a good year for me and zucchini.
ReplyDeleteThis year, all my cucurbit crops were heavily infested by striped cucumber beetle. A tiny but voracious eater and bacterial wilt carrier. In numbers, they can easily decimate a crop. So far, I've had to pull one squash plant and a few pumpkin and cucumber vines.
ReplyDeleteHi Kathy - I'm curious. what are your plans for your fall garden?
ReplyDeleteI have seed for beets, broccoli, carrots, chard, winter greens like kale and collards, lettuces, etc. but decided to wait a little longer to start seedlings. The weather has changed so much during the past 15-20 yrs. Our first frost is usually end of November now, not til mid-December some years.
The climate folks say we may have a mild El Nino this fall so that should bring more rain.
I haven't seen a single zucchini this year. We had about 6 weeks with no rain. The tomatoes, however, are going crazy.
ReplyDeleteLittle Homestead in the Valley
Those leaves sure look like root borer is there. I had an operation going on in my garden yesterday. I cleaned them all and put them under the soil. Now we wait and see what happens. I really am not ready to lose them yet because I only had one squash and one zucchini so far as I had to re-sead 3 times.
ReplyDeleteLove all the info and pictures Kathy. You are doing a great job. Thanks :]
Huli
I second Huli's comment. I learned about late blight from you. I called my extension agent, and he advised me to spray with a fungicide. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSounds like everyone has the zucchini bugs: borers, beetles and mildew. Uggg.
ReplyDeleteI always get borers. Tried once or twice to operate on the stems, but I never was successful. I now plants 2x what I need. So I have a squash glut midsummer, once the borers start killing one or two, I still have a few more squashes left. They usually don't get them all. The healthier and happier the plants, the longer they withstand the borers and mildew. I have never had those beetles.
Our NE late blight problems are from humid and rainy weather. I bet this is not a problem in the midUS with such dry weather this year.
Pam, I hope you saw my fall plans in a newer post.
ReplyDeleteKathy, yes I did, and thank you. I left a comment.
ReplyDeleteLooks like we started many of the same things. I'm further south so I plant seeds for fall crops a little later. Lettuce is hardest - should plant seeds in Sept but it's often very hot so they fail. We often get tropical storms that flood the garden in late Aug and Sept so I try to wait for Oct to put out seedlings.