August 2025 Musings

August greetings fellow gardeners and nature enthusiasts,

It’s August 16th, another month half gone, and summer is slipping by way too fast. Facing up to nature’s challenges has not been easy this month, as has been the case this entire growing season. Heat and drought has taken its toll in the gardens and beyond. Just how damned hot and dry had it become? Well, it’s not too common this early to see the roadside poison ivy wilt straight down and the bittersweet shrivel and yellow prematurely. I’m not exactly a fan of poison ivy, but at least it’s native. Invasive bittersweet is not, and it can all die, thank you very much. I digress…

 The garlic is all tucked away in storage, and the onions are now completely harvested.  I was able to take advantage of a 10-day stretch of dry weather to begin curing them.

A wonderful onion harvest

 Backing up for a moment here, I believe we made a prescient decision at Nashua Farmers’ by ordering the onion starts to arrive at our store a week earlier than in previous years. Those Texas onions landed on our dock March 30th. I had my little “soldier” plants all lined up and in the ground two days later. I do admit that with rather cold soil temperatures, they took their own sweet time to catch on, but this earlier timing proved to be a saving grace. I was able to outpace the worst of the heat later on; it was a very good harvest.

 Yet on the flip side of the coin, many main crop vegetables really struggled due to the extremes mentioned earlier. It felt impossible to keep up the hand watering. Nobody jumped into that all-important growth period during July. I was pleased that diseases weren’t prevalent during this time but bugs surely were. 

The destructive Colorado Potato Beetle

 Even with my constant attention, Asiatic garden beetles practically did in my basil. It now appears that I might be able to salvage a late harvest. Squash, both summer and winter, have had a terrible time. I thought I was golden three-quarters of the way through July, didn’t spray, and paid the price. Squash vine borers, followed by squash bugs, have been devastating. We’ll get a meager harvest, certainly not top quality. Potato vines senesced early, so digging is now happening quickly to avoid rodent damage. Thanks to Gene’s diligent physical control of Colorado potato beetles along the way, we’re getting a decent crop. No big spuds, though! Peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and pole beans are producing far less than normal. Once flowering started to occur, there was very little fruit set in what seemed like forever. We believe this happens when there is insufficient pollination (very scary), as well as nighttime temps remaining too warm. Blossoms simply abort.

Help prevent diseases with organic fungicides

Let’s top things off with another problem.  It’s now August 20th, and we’re seeing signs of downy mildew. This nasty disease comes up from the south, traveling some 40 miles per day. Once establishing itself, there is little recourse. We’ll apply the natural biofungicide/bactericide by Monterey called Complete Disease Control immediately on our second planting of cucumbers. Of course, it has to be raining today of all days, jeez…Anyway, this will hopefully suppress the minor symptoms we now see, and with luck, prolong harvest. Presently, the vines are loaded with flowers, producing fruit, and looking spectacular! Yes, you will find us pickled in the kitchen these next few days, putting by as much as possible before the inevitable happens.

 I wish this blog didn’t read quite so pessimistic, but truthfully it’s how the season has rolled, and quite mirrors my present worldview. Making it even sadder, our beloved swallows departed just two days ago. But we gardeners are a hopeful bunch, knowing only too well that comings and goings are part of the big scheme. 

 So for now, I shall delight in the hummingbirds darting from flower to flower around the yard. But to see these amazing creatures deliriously losing themselves in the tangled scarlet mess of cardinal vines that have overtaken with abandon my 6 ft. high arbor is purely divine. 

That’s it for now.

Judy