You win some, you lose a lot of zucchini!

morning glory

Yesterday was Labor Day and the "official" last day of summer. Yes, it is still hot and humid here , but the neighborhood pool closed and the kids went back to school last week.

I walked around my vegetable garden this morning, looking for any ripening tomatoes, picking more sweet green peppers and jalapenos. It has been a good year for peppers! I have had a surplus of peppers from the single sweet green pepper plant and the two jalapeno plants.

The tomato plants are coming back now after looking pretty sad a few weeks back. There are many green tomatoes on the vine and I picked a light red one the other day. I certainly did not have the volume of tomatoes I envisioned when I was hacking back some of the tomato branches in early summer!

It's a jungle in there!

 The zucchini and summer squash plants were huge in early summer!  I was gloating about the size of the leaves and giving away the extras to friends and neighbors until, of course, the long forgotten squash bug  set up camp! (I did have this problem last summer, but it is amazing how soon I forgot!) According to what I read on the internet, once you see the little critters, it is already too late! But, although I did try the various methods suggested to at least control these insects,

 it was no use. Those silver-backed, armored, mini-tanks, managed to transform  healthy, thriving, green plants to a shriveled, yellow, and wilted mess! (My brother-in-law suggested planting radishes alongside the squash next year to repel the bugs. It is worth a try, since I do not use pesticides.)

space where zucchini/summer squash plants met their fate with the squash bug!

The basil and cilantro grew like gangbusters this summer! I made a lot of delicious pesto ! ( I  added a jalapeno pepper for a little kick) The lettuce fed both our family and my daughter's guinea pigs until mid-August when it could not withstand the oppressive  heat. I recently planted more  lettuce seeds for a fall crop.

basil

I planted snow pea seeds and they have emerged and are growing well. Our spring pea plants did not do as well as last year, most likely because I planted them too late. Along with the lettuce, they are not heat tolerant.

new snow pea plants

I try and take a few photos of the vegetable and flower pots/gardens in late summer. It helps jog my memory next spring when a new growing season is upon us. How did your garden do this year? What were your successes and failures?

Lola...why? just because she is so cute!