My garden...

has been wet lately. Muddy, too. Northwest Oregon has been having a period of unseasonably cool and wet weather. It's been a relief, actually, from all the hot and dry we had in July and August.

My first piece of good news is that each of my tomato plants now (finally) has at least one tomato ripening on it:

I thought they'd never ripen. Other parts of the country, like Illinois, have been pulling in wagons full of ripe tomatoes for what seems like months. This Tumbling Tom cherry plant suddenly has scores of little 'maters turning various shades of red. They are tasty:

..but they have an annoying tendency to split before they're fully ripe:

I ordered seeds from WinterSown.org earlier this year which gave me a sampling of many different heirloom tomatoes:

The green one in my basket above is called "Aunt Ruby's German Green". Fun, huh?

The edamame are still growing strong:

and are finally "plumping out". It won't be long now until we can add yummy, salted edamame to our table:

Probably my most prolific producer this season has been the yellow crook neck squash:

Fortunately, these crook necks keep a long time and look very pretty in a basket on my counter. (There are only so many nights one can eat squash with dinner, you know?)

My peppers have been very, very slow to ripen. Shown here is an orange pepper ripening - my first of the season - with about three others still completely green next to it. I'm wondering if they'll make it before the first frost:

I've been quite successful with weeds this year. They're growing very well:

It's funny how you think you're staying on top of things and then you take a few rainy days off from the garden and -POW- you're way behind again.

My potatoes this year have done tremendously well. Planted in two rows each are Yukon Golds and Red Fingerlings. I probably should get out there and harvest them, but so far, I've just been digging up what we eat right away:

Digging potatoes in the mud is therapeutic, I believe. It's hard to think or worry about anything other than the task in front of you. Fascinating, too, is how many more worms I am counting in my soil this year from last year:

All these came from just two plants:

I think my biggest challenge this year is going to be storing them. I have a pantry, but it stays at approximately 70% humidity. Far too moist to be a good root cellar, sadly.

Tell me, is cauliflower not THE slowest growing vegetable in the garden??! Or am I just being impatient? I swear I planted these about four months ago and they're *still* not ready:

Peas. Ah, peas. I should write a poem about this family's love of peas. The lower part of my Alderman pea row is starting to die back and get some powdery mildew on it:

While the upper part is a vibrant green, growing madly and blooming in an attempt to give me more peas before the first frost:

The middle section is my favorite. It's presenting me with peas:

Is this normal for September? Look at this beauty. Not that I'm complaining, mind you:

Perhaps I've mentioned it, but do you know what my Jim's absolute, number one favorite crop in my garden is? That's right:

The beans have done fairly well and I have had fun experimenting with different varieties. The purple beans are almost finished with their season. These are the last of them:

The yellow wax beans are still producing, but took a hit early on from a root maggot problem I battled in April, so it's understandable that I didn't get as many of these as I had hoped:

The green bush beans are the winners this year and continue to produce:

My zinnias make me soooo happy. I have never grown these before:

They make an amazing cut flower, too, and last a long time inside in a vase:

Rounding up the September 8th tour of my garden, here is a volunteer sunflower. It was a gift from one of our local squirrels. I am dying to know what kind it is. It's over nine feet tall and all those blooms are on that ONE stalk! I know you can see another stalk behind the main one, but all those blooms are just on that one plant. Just when I think it's finished, another bloom will develop:

And here is a frog's bottom. Otherwise known as The End: