Enjoying the Summer harvest & settling in to Fall

This summer seemed to go on forever! The long, hot & dry days made for amazing melon and squash harvests! Some of the sweetest Hermiston watermelons I've ever tasted... I ate about 6 of them.   YUM!!  I tried growing a few melons in my garden this year, but with the lack of rain (and normal irrigation from yours truly), it was a meager harvest. I did get a few which were tasty, but will definitely try again next year with a bit more TLC.  : )

Mini Honeydew, Tigger melon & Sugar Baby watermelon

The rest of my garden did great - tomatoes, corn, chard, garlic, beans even my Rose Finn potatoes, which I mostly neglected, were the biggest I'd ever grown! I'm saving these as seed potatoes for next year.

Tomatoes: Red Romanian heirloom, Pineapple, Indigo Rose,
Purple tomatillio, Walla Walla Sweet onion

I tried something new with potatoes this year - growing them in burlap bags. This is something I will try again next year and see if I can perfect. The idea is good.... I took a burlap coffee bag and folded it down, adding 3" straw to the bottom and 6" of compost then planting a few 'Purple Peruvian' fingerling potatoes. I added finished compost as they grew, until the bag was 1/2 full and left them to do their thing. To harvest, I just lifted the bag and everything fell out the bottom, which had rotted out - quite easy! The potatoes were small and scaly, mostly due to my neglect, but this is pretty slick and will keep trying!

Growing potatoes in burlap bags!

The one disappointment? Moles! This is the first year I have really had an issue with them. I extended my garden to the North this year and planted my carving/cooking pumpkins and tomatillios in the deep compost. The moles had a great time tunneling in the deep beds which in turn left the plants roots starving for water and nutrients. I did get a few small pumpkins, buttercup & patty pan squash.

Patty Pan & Buttercup squash; 'Knucklehead' pumpkin

Up against my greenhouse, I back-filled the 9" drop and planted ornamental gourds. This faces West which was perfect! I planted new (to me) varieties and was pleasantly surprised with the harvest! I am going to dry these little 'Spinning Gourds' - they will be excellent for my "natural ornaments" class at The Wade Creek House next winter!

Counter-clockwise from bottom left: Lil-Pump-Ke-Mon, Orange Cutie,
 Batwings, Spinning Gourds, Gobblin Eggs (center, black), 

PEAS OUT!
~GP