Assessing this years efforts.

It hasn't been a great year for me in the garden but certainly not a complete failure.
I think that next year I'm going to work on getting the soil improved rather than growing as much as possible.
Temperatures have been unpleasantly hot these last couple of months making outdoor work a chore rather than a joy. I'm hoping things will start to cool off as September arrives.
But first things first..........................

Breakfast and............................

....breakfast reading.

Here's a short assessment of this years results:

Tomatoes and Yolo Bell Peppers.

Moderate crop but low plant growth resulting in less leaf coverage and sun scald. Probably need to get the nitrogen levels up. The hybrid cherry tomato plants were a success and pretty prolific. I wasn't impressed with the one Determinate plant I bought although it may have done better with more favourable soil and less harsh weather so I'll probably try one again.

Onions.
Low crop (excluding the Egyptians which grew like crazy anywhere)

Garlic.

Great crop, every one I planted made a good bulb. It's been cured and we are now starting to use it. I'll be putting more in the ground come early winter.

Mesclun.
This was the find of the season. I grew just the correct amount for us both and by cutting and letting it grow back got a continuous crop for quite a few weeks. But as soon as the temps hit the roof it all bolted. I'll definitely be doing some more of this next year.

Kohlrabi.

Good, all plants survived

Potatoes.
2 crops one low and one still in the ground but looks promising.

Carrots.
Poor crop, although I planted them in a bad location and the Kohlrabi plants cut them off from the sun so probably my fault.

Parsnips.
Poor crop. Out of the 4 rows I planted I have around 4 or 5 plants still growing. I'll be leaving those in the ground until the spring.

Swiss Chard.

Grew well but was completely devoured by the Blister beetles.

Bugs have been a problem again, mainly Blister Beetles, Grasshoppers and Caterpillars. Diatomacious Earth and BTK has kept the latter two in check to a certain degree but nothing gets rid of the former except hand picking. NOT a fun pastime when it's 115F+ on the heat scale.

I lost the whole top of one tomato plant........................

.....to this huge fellow.
And I found this.........

.........walking around where I work
It's a Rhinoceros Bug and apparently it's the strongest creature on the planet relative to it's size. It can lift 850 times it's own weight. I gave him to my mate and he let him go in his small orchard.

Oklahomegrownvegland evening skies............................

........of beauty and wonder.
Tonight's dinner..................................

......Asiago and spinach sausages, tomatoes with parmesan cheese, garden greens salad and basmati rice with green peppers