September Garden

 It's been an odd year for my garden, gee I hope I'm not the only one, some things grew gangbusters and others fizzled out. I need to get my soil tested and amended before fall truly hit so things can have a chance to settle in before next spring. I'm sending mine to the local co-operative extension service office. I could technically read my results and amend accordingly but it's been a few years since master gardeners class so I'll have them do it. Maybe I can get a refresher course on reading soil results when I go in for them. Every state has co-operative extension services, look them up online or in the phone book under your local land grant university.

 Corn was so-so, as it usually is in Alaska, unless you work it really hard.

 Patty Pan squash--so cute, not abundant but cute.

Scarlet Runner Beans and Canary Bird Vine, these got to be about 15 feet tall or so.

And check out the scarlet runner beans themselves, whoa, bumper crop!

 Sugar Pie Pumpkins, cute not overly abundant. Too bad, only enough for a few pies.

 Rose hips, sitka roses make the biggest rose hips and lots of them. The time to pick, in my opinion, is now, before bugs and shriveling set in.

 As big as my thumb, a dirty thumb no less.

 The Walla Walla onions came in nicely and made a fine crop, we've been eating them for a few weeks now.

 Purple Peas, these are overly abundant and not that good. They have a funky almost bitter taste to the peas. The regular english peas are delicious and plentiful but not as pretty.

Here, I am standing under the arbor looking straight up, I'm almost 6 feet tall, this stretches a foot over my head and they are growing right off the tippety-top.

Sugar Snap Peas in the sun, plentiful and luscious.

Even the vetch is going gangbusters, topping a five foot pea fence with ease.

And the fireweed I can't stop admiring, my favorite fall foliage of all time.

Zucchini dashed my hopes again this year, I'm disgusted but not surprised.


Peace and Love--