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| Dry bean rows, mid-August |
By mid-August very little rain had fallen. The leaves on the dry bean plants were starting to yellow and it looked like the harvest was going to come in a couple of weeks earlier than the usual mid-September. That was a good sign in the sense that mid-September is usually rainy, which isn't good for drying beans, as it can start mildew and will also beat them down to the soil where they may start to rot. Still, I set up the ropes to dry the beans outside in a week or two before bringing them, tying them in bunches, and hanging the bunches in the loft to dry completely before threshing the following spring.
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| Cucumbers and squash, mid-Aug. |
Squash and cucumber harvest was just getting underway. I usually plant these a little later than others do--that is, at the same time as the dry beans, in the first week of June--which is why the harvest is late; but in the first week of June the weather has usually settled into summer and the soil is warm. (I'm writing this on Memorial Day weekend in 2021 and the high temperatures are only in the 50s. No frost though.) The squash leaves are subject to mildew in September, but the variety--Gentry--is very prolific, and I was able to put up a couple of dozen quarts for the fall and winter. Tomatoes had been ripening as well, with the earliest Sungolds coming in at the end of July.
I also planted some Cherokee Purple and was harvesting those in mid-August, but yield was small. The Better Boys were a little later, but they came in during the third week of August and didn't stop till frost in early November. Unlike the Cherokee Purple they were prolific and the perfect size for salads and grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches. Their taste was good but lacking in acidity/tang. I also grew Roma tomatoes which came ripe in September but were also touched by late blight, so I only got a few quarts of tomato paste out of them.
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| Sungold tomatoes, mid-August |
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