August has been a truly productive month in the garden! I’ve been outside harvesting almost every day. The beans have been crazy, mostly green, but also some purple, wax, and mottled. There are days when I get almost a pound off the plants.

Typical daily harvest!

The pumpkin vines grown in the compost bin and trying to take over half the yard, and are pumping out fruit. One vine has 6 pumpkins currently growing, three of which are starting to ripen!

The first pollinated, and largest one is over half ripe now.

The four other ones on this same vine are all in slightly decreasing size, but I’m very happy with the productivity. Next year I will definitely be using the compost pile as a bed for squash plants.

The pumpkin vine began to climb the fence before coming through it, so I chose to support the pumpkin that got pollinated right along the fence. Didn’t want it to break the vine as it grew.

The ones I grew up along my neighbor’s fence did not do very well. There’s one butternut so far and a couple more just got pollinated.

Pumpkin living on the edge! Balanced on top of the wide raised bed.

I harvested the garlic in mid-July and then let it dry for several weeks. I put them in mesh produce bags in the basement with the stems and roots still attached. Finally tidied them up in early August, and now I have a whole basket of garlic to use.

The dahlia’s have really come into full production now, I’m cutting a couple every day to re-fill the vase in the kitchen.

Ivanetti and Groovy varieties

I harvested my first fig a couple weeks ago and have had a few more ripen up since. So far only Chicago’s.

Ripened nicely on the tree, slightly cracked when harvested.

It tasted great, and has me looking forward to more as August continues.

The tomatoes are finally ripening and I made my first batch of pasta sauce from all homegrown ingredients. I then froze the sauce so we can pull it out during winter.

I had 2 very large clumps in the greenhouse, and they all came ripe within a few days of each other.

Nice, huge beefsteaks

I’ve also grown a ton of cherry tomatoes, the most prolific variety is called “White Zinger.” They have a unique shape, kind of like a tiny lightbulb. I gave some away and then added the rest to the batch of pasta sauce. I’m also getting my first ripe San Marzano’s and Cherokee Purple.

All homegrown veggies and herbs for the sauce: tomatoes, peppers, garlic, leeks, celery, sage, and basil.

New rose bush started blooming this week! It has a pretty yellow-pink gradient.

I cut quite a few more gladiolas as well, seems I have two colors. Plan to dig up the corms in fall and save them to replant next year. I was surprised by how much I liked the flower spikes.

Free passionflower vine I got from work last year, overwintered in a pot inside and its doing well in the garden.

And a few more harvest photos, because I’ve been getting similar sized hauls every day! Generally in the 1-2 pound range. I’ve already harvested over 60 pounds of produce for the year!

One day’s bean harvest! I’ve been blanching and freezing the ones that I don’t manage to give away.

I cut the runners off the strawberry tower in an attempt to get more fruit. I planted the largest of the runners in pots and it looks like many of them will survive. Free plants for next year!

The outdoor cucumbers are doing well and producing. The plants in the greenhouse are starting to produce now, and the plants themselves are about to sprawl out the open roof panel. Will be hard to harvest then.

This season has been one of my most productive so far. Most of the plants are green and chugging along just fine for late summer. The apple trees are laden with fruit, and my fall brassica bed is still covered, and things appear to be growing well beneath the shade cloth. The peppers have been productive much earlier than last year, and I’ve been harvesting them all green to encourage more fruiting. Will probably try to dig a few up and overwinter them in the basement. The tomato plants are getting a bit tired looking, but that is to be expected. I’ve started some lettuce and arugula from seed and will be transplanting the seedlings out in early Sept.