Back from vacation

The garden - August 9th

I left D instructions for watering while I was gone, but he didn't need them. It has rained almost every day for the past week.

In addition to the rain, our temperatures have been cooler than normal, so tomatoes aren't ripening as quickly as they usually do. Even so, D picked a couple pounds while I was gone, and I picked almost 5 pounds yesterday.

Of my seven tomato plants, only three are growing well, so I need to be happy with every tomato I get this year.

I also picked almost a pound of green beans. These are Stringless Blue Lake pole beans.

I only saw one Japanese Beetle yesterday, and I gave him a good soapy bath. I also saw a cucumber beetle, but it got away before I could grab it. The bean plants are covered with flowers, so it looks like I'll get enough beans to continue my attempts at canning them as long as I can keep the pests in check.

I might have planted a few too many beans around this tower. Or I didn't put enough string on it. The plants are growing all over each other and any zinnia or asparagus that gets too close.

It looks like I'll be picking peppers soon.

Last but not least, some of the Jacob's cattle dry beans were ready, so I picked them. It's been so wet lately that some of the pods have mold on them.

I threw a few in the composter, but most of them looked fine on the inside. I shelled these yesterday and put them in they dehydrator for just a little while. I've never grown dry beans before, and I'm very excited about them. I'll have to figure out how I'm going to eat them.