The Kitchen Garden In Late August

There's very little bare dirt in the kitchen garden these days. The Winter Squash have claimed every last open space, making my daily watering routine a challenge.

All of the tomatoes, with the exception of the "Bloody Butcher" plant, have reached the top of the two-tier towers and are still growing. The "Heavenly Blue" morning glory has also reached the top of its tower and is happily rambling throughout the tomato plants. Instead of "out of control", I will call this the cottage garden look.

The "Indigo" Amethyst Jewel Cherry tomatoes have started to turn a lovely shade of purple/black on top. This is the first year that I have grown this variety, so I have no idea what they are suppose to look like when they are fully ripe. My best guess is that the whole cherry will turn that pretty purple color. Some of them are getting pretty close.

I was able to harvest the first eight "Bumblebee" Sunrise Cherry tomatoes this weekend. Their stripes certainly are reminiscent of a bee and the colors look like a sunrise. My co-worker thought these were the best tasting cherry tomato she has ever had. Hard to beat that review!

The "Black Plum" tomatoes are beginning to ripen at a fast pace.

Although I have harvested three "Moonglow" tomatoes, the plants is still loaded with large green fruit.

   Further down the row, the "Poletschka" pole bean has made a credible comeback from the bunny damage. The tower is now lightly covered with climbing vines. The "Bumblebee" tomato next to it is leaning away, trying to catch a bit of extra light. Between the two tomato towers are my four "Minnesota Midget" cantaloupe plants.

Between those four plants, they only managed to produce two cantaloupe. Looking at pictures online, I think mine should be a bit larger and have more defined ribbing before they are fully ready to harvest. Mine are now baseball size and are suppose to reach softball size when ready.

The "Poletschka" bean is getting covered with soft pink blossoms.

There are now beans beginning to lengthen on the vines. Since they got off to such a delayed start due to the rabbits, I am afraid that I hold out little hope for harvesting mature dried beans this year.

The Winter Squash are doing really well this year. I have four "Queensland Blue" squash that are nearing the end of their time on the vine. Two are quite large, like the one pictured above, and the other two are a little smaller.

My two "Delicata" plants have gone crazy this year. Everywhere I look under the squash leaves, there are "Delicata" fruit. I liked how this group is growing in one big, happy pile. It's a good thing I love "Delicata"!

The "Butternut" are usually my last Winter Squash to ripen each year, and this year is no different. I think I have at least three nice size fruit. But at this time, they are still mostly green, with just a touch of the golden yellow that they will turn when fully ripe. I definitely need a few more weeks of good weather to help them along.

As is normal, my pepper plants are mostly a big fat failure this year. My "Creme Brule" plant set exactly one pepper and I see that it has a small hole in it. The "Lunchbox Yellow" mini sweet pepper plant did a little better, setting four peppers. It was certainly hot enough this Summer, so I will have to spend the Winter doing more research on growing successful pepper in the Willamette Valley.