Rainfall
- 1st: 0.03"
- 8th: 0.37" (Debby)
- 9th: 0.11"
- 11th: 0.59"
- 13th: 0.02"
- 16th: 0.2"
- 17th: 0.06"
- 18th: 0.01"
- 29th: 0.58
- 30th: 0.06"
- Total: 2.06 inches
Temperature
- range of nighttime lows: 58 to 72°F (14.5 to 22°C)
- range of daytime highs: 82 to 95°F (27.7 to 35°C)
- first half of the month gave us hot, humid, August-like weather
- second half of August was mostly cooler, dryer, September-like
- Schedule
- mornings - pick
- afternoons - preserve
- Not a bountiful year for fruit, I'm afraid. Between loss of our fig trees, poor production, and stiff competition from the birds and squirrels, we ate most of it fresh, although this month I'll be processing pears, which seem to do reliably well.
- Problems
- Pickleworm in the cucumbers. They've been struggling anyway, and the worm hasn't helped. No pickles for preserving this year, but we do get baby cukes for salads every couple of days.
- Large wasp nest in the muscadine vines. Right under the eave of the house!
- Groundhog! And an extremely tricksy one at that. It's resisted all the baits Dan has tried in our live animal trap, and continues to do its damage in the garden and orchard.
- Not enough rain.
- And, of course, the fig trees dying. I really miss our fresh August figs!
- In summary, it hasn't been a great year for gardening. Mostly I harvest handfuls, but at least we're eating well.
Planted
I don't usually plant in August because the heat and scanty rain aren't conducive for growing. I feel like I'm taking a chance by planting early this year, due to our cooler temps!
- carrots
- beets
- lettuce
Harvested
- green beans
- slicing tomatoes
- cherry tomatoes
- daikon leaves
- chicory leaves
- lambs quarter
- okra
- summer squash
- basil
- cucumber
- oregano
- thyme
- pears
- muscadines
- elderberries
- sweet peppers
- yamberries
- Egyptian walking onions
Preserved
- pizza sauce, canned
- pear sauce, dehydrated
- green beans, canned
- muscadines, frozen
- summer squash, canned
- elderberries, frozen
Photos
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| We didn't get many apples, but I made sure we got a pie! |
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| Pear production hasn't been great either, but I did dehyerate some pear sauce. I also tried dyeing with pear leaves! My results here. |
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| I had some old (2020?) Jing okra seed and planted it along with my usual Clemson spineless. I was surprised so much came up! |
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| It's a pretty plant and adds interest to both garden and picking bucket. It doesn't retain it's red color with cooking, however. |
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| Early August salad: cherry tomatoes, cucumber, baby green beans, a variety of greens: lambs quarter, daikon leaves, chicory, goat feta. |
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| Late August salad: by the time the greens fizzled out, I started harvesting summer squash. Laying also picked up so I could add hard boiled eggs. |
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| Tatume summer squash (I think!). My garden planting didn't make it, but this was from seed I tossed out in the pasture, where the plants are producing. |
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| Based on the shape, however, I'm thinking this might be baby sweet potato squash. No matter. We love it sauteed with onion and fresh herbs, or roasted. |
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| The yamberries produced well. |
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| These are a starchy vegetable, good roasted or tossed into soup. |
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| Our prettiest pepper so far. Fresh grated goat mozzarella on the left, fresh pizza sauce in the jar, and Egyptian walking onions on the right. |
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| We started the month with a fresh apple pie and ended it with a fresh pear pie. |
Your turn!
Garden Notes: August 2024 © August 2024
18 comments:
We haven't gotten as much rain this month either, but somehow Mother Nature keeps providing! Amazing all the harvest you got considering how many obstacles you have faced.
Your pie looks scrumptious!
Seems strange that we got more rain from Debby than you did, just over 3 inches, by the time it got up here. Wish I could share our bounty of cucumbers and apples with you! Pickleworm...have to look that one up!
Daisy, thanks? We're in for a cooler, rainier trend, so I'm hoping to get one last hurrah from the garden before first frost.
Rosalea, it all depends on the hurricanes path. Debby seemed to be small (in terms of miles across) and stuck stubbornly to the coast. We're farther inland, so we didn't get as much as we hoped. Sometimes we get more than we want!
That apple pie looks wonderful. I did not have a great garden this summer, either. I think I used the sprinkler more often last summer and it helped. I got ONE zucchini! Unheard of. -Jenn
Jenn, thanks! Seems like a lot of us had poorly producing gardens. I've just been grateful for every little bit I get. And even a little bit helps on the grocery bill!
Looks like you had a much better garden year then us this year. I'm really on the fence with growing one next year. We need a fence for one, old raised beds dug out and new ones etc. It may be a farmer's market year for us next year. Only a few things did good this year. We didn't even get a full dozen zucchini this year. Very strange.
Having not planted any formal veg garden things this year (yet, doing a fall planting of a few things) I did get 8 or 9 qts of the catley guavas in the freezer for aug. They are late, I usually am done picking them by the end of july. Its been less precipitation here than usual with the exception of Debby (6-7") and more, hotter days than average. The persimmons are coming ripe soon.
I'm currently using your technique of freezing up ripe tomatoes to can when I get enough. The heat destroyed our vines but there are still lots of green ones left. I plan to do one more batch of sauce and one of paste and then compost what is left. Other than that, we are picking japanese eggplant, okra and our late sweetcorn every other day and getting a basketful. We did plant a late summer squash plant that now has blooms. I've never planted one late before so it is sort of an experiment to see if we can get summer squash in the fall.
I forgot to mention our fruit crop was a bust this year too, mostly because all our mature trees are back at the farm and our new orchard is still too little to produce much. What it did produce was stolen by the squirrels before they got ripe. I still have access to a giant pear tree that regularly produces but I still have maybe 40 pints of canned pears left so will probably skip this year, especially since the girl who loves them the most is now at college.
Kristina, we've grown enough to eat our fill fresh with a little after that to preserve. I'm just thankful for whatever I get. In comparing comments, it looks like we've all had a poor year.
Annie, that's not bad for not having a formal garden! Our perennials have been faithful, which reminds me to plant more of them.
Ed, darn squirrels! They are so greedy. That's probably what happened to a lot of ours too. The groundhog pretty much helped himself to the windfall (from which I usually make my pear sauce).
I know they say tomatoes love heat, but like you, I find they have their limits. My tomatoes usually have a second burst after the weather cools down a bit. I'm hoping for the same this year. Freezing them is a great way to collect enough for sauce or jarred tomatoes.
I must say I'm delighted with our garden's production this year, although due to its size, it's more of a kitchen garden than a pantry garden. Nevertheless, I have a dishwasher full of pint jars, hoping to can some tomatoes and start some counter-fermented dilly beans.
Michelle, even a successful small garden is a victory. I hope you get plenty of tomatoes and green beans to work with!
The weather has been a bit odd this year, with lots of grey, so lack of sunshine hinders some ripening. Plus the weather is starting to cool dramatically. Regardless, we have lots of cherry tomatoes ripening, both red and orange. The potatoes are ready to harvest. The Hungarian yellow hot peppers have done amazingly well and I'll have enough to can a batch, which is all we'll need all winter. I'm still getting a cucumber a day for my lunch and loads of zucchini. The tomatoes are just starting to ripen. The guessing game is if they'll all ripen before first frost.
Nina, ah yes, the first frost guessing game! I've been wondering about that too, especially since our nights have been unusually cool for early September. Last year we got an early killing frost and then weeks and weeks of summer-like weather!
It's good to hear, though, to hear you're garden is producing as well as it is. It seems as though everyone has faced challenges this year, so it's always encouraging to get whatever we get.
You ever think of trying pawpaws? They're native to much of Georgia. Used to eat them in Tennessee as a kid and they're tasty!
Amanda, I used to eat them in Arkansas! Delicious fruit. Someone kindly sent me ripe pawpaws several years ago so I could harvest the seed. I researched the how-to and followed it carefully, but nothing ever came up. It was disappointing, to be sure.
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