Late August brought a heat wave that lasted for weeks with no water–but a lot of sunshine. The grass had burned–even before I’d trimmed it. But I was soaking up every ray of sunshine.

My grass clippings were still wet but neighbors had donated some days earlier. Time to mulch the beans. I’d mulched the rest of the bed with rabbit bedding a few days earlier, but had run out before finishing. Grass clippings work just fine for most plants. It is one of my favorite mulch materials.

Straw with the thicker strands is better for things like tomato branches touching the ground. Grass and straw worked well this year. The pine shavings were much less of a winner in this garden. I hate touching the material, and it’s slow to decompose. Not worth the money or time.

The next day brought my first storm damage. A self-seeded branching sunflower had fallen. I’d hoped for seed, but got a bouquet instead.

I used the stormy day to harvest the rest of the potatoes. I needed their beds for winter crops. This was my first year growing potatoes. I planted 8.5 kilos of seed potatoes and harvested about 70 kg. We grew seven different varieties, all in Irish “lazy” beds. Potatoes are one of my favorite crops.

Some of the varieties did really well. Two varieties were disappointing, though I blame the weather. I’d had to top the plants early–very early for the late varieties.

This bed had been hit particularly hard by blight and beetles. The potatoes had holes and spots. Much of the bed was empty. In a month, I’d throw most of these potatoes away, because they won’t store well. But while this bed was a disappointment, the other beds did very well. I can’t wait to try again next year.

It’s also not a complete bust. Digging around the bed to find the tubers loosened the compacted soil. I found more roots of the rhizomatous horse tail but there were few left. I might be making a dent. I’m almost done making beds in this garden. Next year, spring will be much easier.

The biggest challenge soon will be making a few onion-and-garlic beds right behind where I’m sitting. I’m leaving the area around the greenhouse to grass and wild growth, but the left was mowed by neighbors all year. I’ll cover it with cardboard soon, so I can plant it in late October or early November.

But let’s return to the task at hand: potatoes. A few days earlier, I’d stored the first batch of potatoes in sand. These buckets are in the basement now. The second batch would be stored in dry buckets. Ugly potatoes went straight to the kitchen.

In the greenhouse, I found exciting news: fruit! The melons are fruiting, and the fruit are getting bigger quickly, so we might actually get some real melons this year. This is my first year growing melons. I’m super super excited. And finally the tomatoes have fruit. Everything started fruiting over the last few sunny days. I gave them a good watering just before the sunny days started, and it seems to have worked. Everything’s looking so good. I’m so happy with how the greenhouse is going. I can barely reach my shelves again but that’s totally fine because the trade-off is that it looks like this and I love it.

Unfortunately, the slug traps brought bad news. I’d struggled with them for weeks. I’d found insects and spiders in them. This butterfly settled the debate. There was too much bycatch in the traps. I’d even find a dead one in one of the other traps later…

I know I don’t have a microphone. I shouldn’t be talking to you, but it doesn’t matter. There is wheat. The wheat germinated. I’m so happy. The chicken are roaring over there, but there’s also construction there. Anyway… I just took out the first slug trap because I saw a butterfly on it, and there’s no way I’m gonna risk butterflies. So I’ve decided that there are not gonna be any slug traps in this garden. I don’t like it. Either I collect them in the morning or they’re gonna be here. I’ve been slowly adding more leopard slugs as I find them. So they are predators of the regular slug. But I don’t know if that’s gonna be enough. We’re gonna see. Definitely not gonna put up any more of those if they’re endangering butterflies. Not gonna happen.

I have some plans against slugs for next year. Traps won’t be a part of this garden again. And while the slug traps had been sad, there was much happiness in the garden.

Look at the size of that sunflower. I mean just… It’s bigger than my hand. It’s so big. A lot of the sunflowers are reaching the end of their life but they still look so beautiful.

And now that the yellow ones are going away–most of them just don’t look very pretty anymore. Though we have a few that still add a little bit of color. But now that they are going away the first of the red ones are opening up. So we’re gonna have red ones very soon.

There are also some tomatoes. Yellow tomatoes. So these are almost ripe. Let’s see. These aren’t done. Take this one and this one.

The purple teepee beans were ripe enough to get a small portion for our dinner. The Brunhilde beans were much more fruitful. I harvested a few portions for our next meals. Most of these will be allowed to ripen and dry on the vine for storage.

Both varieties have earned a place in next year’s garden–though definitely not right next to each other. The fruit look too much alike but I have to treat them differently. The top ones are Brunhilde, the bottom purple teepee.

With my harvest added to the basket, I continued along the rows. The corn was now taller than me–and doing the three-sisters thing. This is so cool, and there are the first beings. I mean just–hold on how do I show you? There. There’s the first beans.

The wind was picking up again–and it was getting late.

The next morning brought hope for the slug problem: two leopard slugs were eating their way through decaying leaves.

That afternoon, I turned the compost bins. Construction, wind, and people kept the camera off. I couldn’t keep the results from you, though. A pile of straw, two freshly turned bins, a heap of grass clippings–and everything looking neat. I’ll have compost in spring. Yay!

Hungry and accomplished, I headed back home. There were beans waiting for me there. The young Brunhilde beans made an excellent dinner. Canned potatoes, as always made things easier. I love the color of the purple beans. The inside is the freshest green. Did you spot Pepper hoping I drop some? I didn’t, sorry, buddy.

While the beans spent some time in the oven with butter on top, I cleaned the kitchen. I added cream, spices, herbs, corn, and some cheese to the beans, and returned that to the oven. Simple but delicious.

So long and thanks for being here.