Last Gasp

 

This year's garden harvest has been pitiful. Nothing went right. I am sad every time I go out into that wretched patch of ground. I spent about $100 on plants and harvested about $10's worth of veggies-if that.

Right now everything is covered with a red fungus, even the kale and I have never been able to kill kale. It has been too hot and humid for the poor plants and the enormous insect population has been more than ready and willing to spread disease. I can't even remember when we had a breeze. The outside is as stuffy as a basement closet.

Thank goodness the fig tree has not shown sign of disease-yet. It did get blown over in the derecho and is leaning but it looks healthy. The figs are ready for picking but even they are a bit off this year.

There are plenty of them but they are not very sweet and they are strangely spongy. Last year I was making tons of jelly. This year I don't know what to do with them.

 The tomato plants are dying and the tomatoes are full of black spots-and those are the good ones. The rest are rotting before they even ripen. The few that we have eaten have a tough skin and an interior filled with white spots. Eww..

 The jalapenos were decent but the other peppers were soft and mushy.

 My biggest disappointment of the season were the cucumbers. I was really looking forward to cucumber sandwiches and tea  for leisurely summertime lunches. I wouldn't eat these things if they were the last food on earth. Yuck. The pumpkin vines are also gone. They just shriveled up and disappeared. Likewise the squash.

We did manage to grow a few towering sunflowers but even they have a tired look about them.

I feel bad for the pretty things having to stand guard over the mess the place has become. I should go out and tear it all up and put it to bed for the winter but it's just too hot and muggy out.