Bush Beans and Mustard Greens

A pretty pot of beans! 

We are really pleased with the way our fall beans turned out. The beans (Contender and Cherokee wax) planted late July are almost finished bearing, the ones planted early August are just coming on. Contender beans take 50 days from germination to harvest and are perfect for short bean seasons. Our season is short on both ends. Self pollinating, bean pollen becomes sterile at about 85-87 degrees and are obviously not cold hardy. Mustard came on strong too.
The broccoli I planted in August is forming heads! The savoy cabbage I grew from seed will do the same. Because I grew it and it did well we are going to have a lot of cabbage this year...Lettuce planted a week ago is up! Rutabagas planted from seeds look great and we are beginning to pull turnips. The beets are a mess. Just pitiful. But I persist. We planted leeks and are hoping they will be as good as last year. Tuscan kale looks great. Russian kale has not taken off. We are still getting peppers! Yay! Carrots look strong and all herbs are on go. A regret: I still haven't planted sun chokes. What is that about. Gotta make that happen next year. TTFN gardening friends!

W and L' s

There's no denying gardening is work. I like to think of it as my daily work-out not requiring treadmills and such. This past week I took down field peas which is major. Bending, pulling, lifting, carrying, raking-all motor planning tasks that took a few hours. Scott joined in and dug in compost. Then I finished off with new seed beds of lettuce, beets, and carrots. Succession planting works here in the South. I have become more skilled at planning for ongoing lettuce and such with time and experience. It just happened but the key to success is to plant before you think you should. This is a win.

Now that Summer crops are out (mostly), a review of wins and losses. I have theories on why the beans failed, lima and green. Limas failed because the person in charge of watering does not get that lots of water, more than you think is required for a big plant producing a big crop. They flowered but never produced. Green beans suffered from poor advisement. After Hurricane Matthew all the rules about fertilizer were wrong. Fifteen inches of rain with epic rains leading up to the storm washed away the rules and all the nutrients out of the soil. I am guessing microorganisms were absent also. Round two of all peas and beans were paired with good amounts of fertilizer and pea/bean inoculant. It worked. This fall I will get a new soil test even though it's only been a little over a year.

Okra is standing tall with pods maturing for seed harvesting, one lone tomato has fruit and sweet potatoes are fattening in the ground. The rest of the garden is devoted to Fall and Winter crops. Carry on, Y'all!