This year's September garden is a mixture of glorious bounty, and total crop failures. A particularly wet August and September has left the garden much more green and lush than in recent years, yielding more green beans and kale than I can keep up with, and yet that same moisture has meant cracked and diseased tomatoes. I have struggled with pests this year - cucumber beetles and squash bugs have been joined by a new culprit, blister beetles - and I've lost all of my zucchini, winter squash, and cucumber plants (even with multiple sowings), and the blister beetles did a number on my fall beets. Luckily, they've made a valiant comeback, and I should have a nice beet harvest to store in the … [Read more...]