Cabbage Moth Explosion, Autumn Begins

Welcome to the first day of Autumn. Wow, summer just flew by this year! My early fall garden is still producing. The cabbage moths are everywhere and I have been spraying "bt" on my broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower to keep them in check. This is the worst cabbage worm infestation I have ever seen!! Despite the cabbage worms, those plants are doing very well (see pics below). The one group planted in the raised bed is doing a bit better than the others that were planted in the regular plot. Small heads are starting to develop on most of the broccoli plants now, so it wont be long until fresh garden broccoli (Yum!!). My roma tomato plants have started to look a little better now. The same goes for my pole limas. I started harvesting green onions again over the last week. My late planted carrots are growing better now since we received some rain. Both the green and banana peppers are growing well and are producing a nice crop. The celery plants are still producing nice stalks, as long as I keep the plants watered well. The weather has been warmer than normal for the last week or so and the forecast is for more of the same for about the next week. I have started to water as the soil has begun to dry out again. I have just started to pick green beans again, with more to come. Happy Fall Gardening!!

Very Dry Late Summer Garden

The weather has been very dry over the last 3 weeks or so. I really could use some rain. Oh well, I guess I have to water my garden artificially. Some parts of my garden are doing well, but others not so well. My pole lima beans have really struggled this year, probably due to the cool and rainy conditions we had earlier in the growing season. The vines are starting to get growing now and have set a few pods, but not many for this time of year. My roma tomatoes continue to look pretty bad, but they are still producing ripe tomatoes. My mid-season planted green beans did not produce very well, as they were descended upon by bean beetles in biblical proportions and then they developed some leaf rust and then they nearly dried up. despite all that, I did mange to harvest some beans. The beans I planted where the spring onions were growing are doing pretty good and should begin producing beans within 2 to 3 weeks. Hopefully the bean beetles have moved on!! The fall broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage planted the first week of August are doing pretty good. I have to make sure they are watered regularly, especially in the late summer heat. The ones planted in the raised bed are growing better than the ones in the ground. It looks like I should have a good fall crop. I harvested some Green Towers and Sierra lettuce a few days ago. The plants have really taken off. I planted new lettuce seeds about one week ago, and they have germinated in the seedling trays. I am hopeful to get these seedling planted out into the garden by the third week of September after the weather has cooled a bit. I have also planted some top setting onions for green onions about 3 weeks ago, and they have started to push on green shoots. Here is what I have been harvesting from the garden over the last month or so: Green and banana peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, celery, and green beans. Happy Gardening!!