End of summer

We're a day away from October and tomatoes are still growing. I finally took out all the plants though because they just don't taste right anymore.

We had a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes of all colors this year. It was so nice to be able to go out on the deck and grab a handful anytime. The deck looks empty without them.

Planted another round of sunflowers mid-August just to see what would happen and they actually made it up in time!

The beginning of the end

We've reached the point in the season that I remember that I don't really like watermelon, and 44 tomato plants might have been a few too many for 3 people.

Today I yanked out a bunch of plants. The intention was to plant some fall/winter crops, but it hasn't happened yet. I can't decide what to plant and am trying to convince myself not to waste time with things we won't actually eat. I'll probably just sit around thinking about it until there's a foot of snow on the ground and it's too late.

Now a report on the summer crops:

TOMATOES
Snow White - Still one of my favorites. Produces a TON of whitish yellow cherry tomatoes. If you give it the chance, it will spread into a giant mess.

Sun Gold - first to ripen, my child's favorite. Mostly gone by late August.

Black Cherry - eh. Unimpressed.

Green Doctor Cherry - never got one of these to come up.

Determinates - These will mess with your summer plans. They wait for NO ONE and NOTHING and if you plant a dozen of them, you will be making a lot of salsa when they tell you it's time. On the other hand, it's nice to just make the salsa all at once and be done with it for awhile. Then you can pull up the plants and move on.

Sweet Pea Currant - These are so cute and tasty but such a pain in the rear to pick as they are so, so tiny and there are so, so many.

PEPPERS

You want something adorable that will grow like nobody's business, plant some Thai Red Chili peppers. Holy cow.

Otherwise, I don't know why I plant anything expect jalapenos. They're all I want. Next year nothing but jalapenos. Swear on my nachos.

OTHER

Why I continue to plant Japanese eggplant is beyond me. Same with cucumbers. They never turn out great and I never eat them. The only plus is their flowers attracted a TON of bees and butterflies.

Also great for pollinators: scarlet red runner beans. These have essentially created a privacy wall between my house and my neighbor's house. I'm going to cry when they all die. I don't eat the beans but instead am leaving them on until everything dies and returns the nitrogen to my soil blah blah blah.