Harvest Hopes and Bright Blossoms

A variety of zucchini squash known as 'Eight Ball' for obvious reasons. I figured that if I was going to venture into the dangerous territory of growing summer squash, I might as well grow something that would be fun to stuff.

My garden continues to mature at an amazing rate. A burst of cool air has descended on Minnesota, but it's brought with it brilliant sunshine. The combination is making my cole crops very happy but is still bringing along my hot-weather-lovers nicely. Sadly, the crisp nights and slanting sunlight remind us how close fall is. I was hoping to put in fall peas and spinach, but there won't be time for the peas to mature. Next year I'll have to plan better.

The median last frost-free date is September 28th here, so I have just over a month for my garden to finish its production. Some of my plants will be OK until it dips into the mid-20s, which generally happens after the first week of October. The full story, with median frost free dates and growing season for many locations in Minnesota, can be found here.

Fortunately, some of my vegetables that were sluggish to start may just mature within that time. I've also harvested many turnips, radishes, and greens, and my summer squash are just starting their profusion. Even my cabbages appear to have survived the evil moth attack of a couple of weeks ago and are beginning to head beautifully. Below is a pictorial update of the garden.

My tomatoes are a complete mess, but starting to be a tasty one.

After some windy storms my tomatoes have blown down, despite my earlier efforts to stake them up. At this point I'll leave them down since I'm afraid of snapping the brittle stems. They will probably mature anyway, and might even do so better now that there's more light shining into the densely planted area.

My beans are finally starting to set fruit, though they are still only knee-high and will probably not produce the yield they would have had with a full season. It's still very exciting. This is the French filet bean, 'Cupidon'.

I planted these watermelons on a lark, but with another month to mature, they may yet be edible. They are certainly adorable either way.


Likewise, I took a chance planting these cucumbers from seed. The ones that had enough space and sun have already begun to flower and make fruit. These are 'Amour' pickling cukes.

Savoy and 'Stonehead' cabbages looking good and forming heads. I think the savoy cabbage will be great for things like colcannon (I'll post the recipe later).

I planted some flowers here and there in the garden to encourage pollinators and add extra color.

A wee spider valiantly standing guard (or maybe just chilling in her hammock?) on a stalk of 'Golden' purslane.

I call this 'Squash Blossom Jungle'.

The flowers are really tucked down in the depths of the plants, which are quite poky, by the way. I haven't made any fried squash blossoms yet because I'm afraid I'll accidentally harvest female flowers, reducing my squash harvest. The male blossoms seem to be on stalks, while the female ones are more sessile against the stem, so I might be able to get some blossoms without causing harm.

Here's a cheeky little bee visiting a female flower (IIRC) with a load of pollen.

I still can't believe how adorable the teensy patty pan squash are right now. They're a bit more slow-growing than the zukes, but they will be SOOO delicious.

Who needs cabbage roses when you can have rose-like cabbages?

My 'Red Acre' cabbages aren't doing so well. In the past my red cabbages have grown better than the green ones, but this time they're struggling. These seemed to have difficulty getting established and are more sensitive to water stress and evil moth nibbling.


Anyone who can name this 'moon food', as Dan calls it, wins a box of donuts!