Putting the garden to bed

This is always a bittersweet time of year for me. This year is particularly hard, because we had so much rain all year that my harvest was less than half of normal. Potatoes all got blight, squash, zuccini, pumpkins either plain outright rotted or got powerdy mildew and got yanked. Soybeans turned yellow and shrivelled up - not sure why. On the other hand, had a bumper crop of green beans, carrots, onions, beets, berries and tomatoes. Most tender herbs are still growing strong.
I'll be tilling under all the weeds, and reclaiming space inside my fenced area this weekend, and cleaning out the raised beds before planting winter rye. I'm already planting next year's fantasy garden in my head.

And I've been whining that I left z9b to garden in z6b!

It's really time to pull the tomato - frost last week killed the tops, but it's growing strong from the center of the plant - but it's too hot during the day to set fruit (88-90*F) and too cold at night (mid 30-low50s) - and hard frost any moment now. So I'm 99.999% sure there will be no toms from that plant this year... but it's so pretty and Green - a color we don't see much of out here :-)

Some peas in the ground and sprouted. Need to put more in. Was going to plant some spinach, but ran out of room - But, due to canine interferance, the bearded irises have moved into the vegetable bed and have taken over...

Basil tops also got frosted, but new growth is being aided by the warm sunny days. Had to harvest all the bell peppers green - and just in time - the plants are dead or near dead after the little freeze.

This was my first real garden in 20 years, and the first time I've had acreage of my own. Spent most of the year putting in trees, fences, water and electricity. Only had on 4' x 8' raised bed. We bought supplies to build another one today.

Fortunately there are no weeds in our sand. If you don't water it, it won't grow. I don't think there are even that many weed seeds in it because I only had 10 or so weeds germinate - and one of them I really like - it has orange flowers on it - so I let it grow! Like the rest of the desert plants, it has sliver-grey-almost green leaves, but it contrasted well with the peppers. I am suspecting that the only organic material in the sand is stuff that I put in it.

It is always sad to say good bye to Summer's garden, but like you, I've got all kinds of fantasy gardens - in my head, on graph paper, in computer files - now if only I can figure out how to make them a reality!

I guess when it rains,it pours. We are in our third straight drought year. Lakes are way below normal pool. We got a good rain about a month ago, but I mowed everything that was still trying to grow about two months ago. I am also looking forward to next years garden. This was my first year trying to garden on my own. When I was a teenager, my stepdad always had a garden, but I only picked veggies and pulled weeds, did not really know about depth of seed, fertilizing, not to till damp clay soil, and a few other things which I have learned this year. Worst thing that I did was plant everthing the same depth rather that go by what the seed packet said. Do ya'll grow corn? If so, what kind do you grow? I am looking for a type of sweet corn that grows large eating ears. Next year, I plan on sprinkling sevin on the silks every 2-3 days and when most of the silks appear to be full length, squirt a mixture of corn oil and BT in the tip of each ear(I got the oil/BT suggestion off some website). Last year, I spent a small fortune on beneficial bugs but the other bugs were way more prolific and I probably had at least one worm in each cob that got enough water to grow. I am also going to use a drip irrigation method that I found on EBAY for $240.00 to hopefully get a more even watering. Do ya'll have a favorite cucumber? I probably need to get one resistant to bacterial wilt as mine did real good early in the season, but as spotted cucumber beetles multiplied, my cucumbers died. I have also read about surrounding your cucurbits with a trap crop of a type of squash that they are more attracted to and picking them off or spraying when they are noticed. I am interested in knowing any suggestions for insect or weed control. This previous season I did two gardens totaling a little over a quarter acre. Next year I plan on doing only one and a bit smaller as I could not keep up with the weeds, bugs, watering, and picking especially when it is over 100 degrees most of the summer. The high yesterday was 94 and they call this fall. Take care, Mike

Boy, Mike, that's a pretty ambitious first year garden! You put me to shame for sure.
I just hand pick the cucumber beetles, but I don't grow nearly as much as you. I've also used a homemade spray of garlic water (crush several cloves of garlic and soak them in lots of water overnight) and a little bit of liquid soap (make sure it's soap and not detergent, which will burn your plants) in a squirt bottle. If you can get out to the garden first thing in the morning and spray before they get too active, you can knock a bunch of them off and drown them in soapy water. As an alternative, try row covers. Ask your extension office when to cover to avoid cucumber beetles and get them covered before the beetles arrive.

I can't really talk about which varieties of corn or cukes because anything I can grow up here won't survive the texas heat. Good luck next year!

Thanks for the tip! The more suggestions I get, the better. The garlic/soap mix would definately be better on the environment. I ain't sure I will survive many more years of this heat. This year has been hotter than normal, even for Texas. Hopefully next year we'll get some rain. Thanks again, Mike