Garden Update, 10 September 2011

Cool temperatures here after a brief heatwave.  Looks like an early fall in SoCal, as the plum tree is losing its leaves.

Zucchini is wrapping up, tomatoes and onions still have plenty to produce, I'm hopeful for some beets, and I'm quite disappointed in my cucumbers and pumpkins (especially pumpkins, as the male blossom frat party is the party that never quits).  I get the beginnings of female flowers, but, clearly intimidated by the overwhelming number of male blossoms, they never bloom, whither away, and take their little fruit with them.

I also continue to be plagued by leaf miners.  Bought a miracle organic spray, which wasn't a miracle at all, and worked as well as my previous eradication attempts consisting of trying to ignore the leaf miners to death.

Am going to place a couple of leaves in a plastic bag and see what happens.  Read that after a few days, black bugs come out.  I am not really expecting to solve the issue, but I do want to see the black bugs.

Had a decent harvest today, I tried to be a little artsy with the photo, with little success.

Finally, for posterity, I'm going to rank the success of my growing efforts over the last two years.  My ratings are:

0 - Plant died
1 - Plant grew, maybe a veggie or two
2 - Plant and veggie, but borderline worth the space in the garden.
3 - Good success
4 - Great success

Tomato - 4, always more tomatoes than we can eat.
Zucchini - 4, fortunately I like them.
Broccoli - 4, even after producing, the flowering stalks have served me well in bee attraction.
Kale - 4, although I am not the biggest kale fan.
Potatoes - 4, I need to try mounding
Sweet Peas - 4, and I love seeing them grow up my makeshift trellis.
Onions - 3, onions never grew to full size, although that was probably due to planting them to close together.
Cabbage - 3, see comments for kale.
Pumpkins - 3, last year was actually pretty good.
Yellow Squash - 2, never had a large production.
Peppers - 2, they sure are pretty, though.
Cucumbers - 1, maybe three cucumbers over two years.
Corn - 1, I know I don't have enough square footage to grow corn, but I gave it a try.
Watermelon - 1, although the three little watermelon were actually pretty tasty and kind of fun
Asparagus - 0, although I know it takes years (in year 1)
Beets - Too early to tell, probably planting out of season, but have four or five beet plants growing.

I don't mess with lettuce, as I'm not a big fan, and have avoided carrots and radishes as I don't really like them in my soup creations.

Is it too early to look forward to spring?