Last month's warm, late-summer rainstorm and subsequent muggy conditions appareared to cause the tomato - AND the previously-flourishing potato crop - to collapse and die. What actually killed them looks to my novice eyes to be late blight. Aargh. So many tomatoes wasted, just as they were ripening! And that was the last chance this year for a potato crop for us; risking planting them now would be folly since frost, too much rain, or residual blight could make all the necessary work of preparing more rows a collossal waste of time. (So we bought a big "harvest special" sack of taters from our CSA!) And luckily, most of the pumpkins were near mature before powdery mildew felled the mass of vines. We've left them there for now, to absorb what little nutrients the plants can still give before bringing the 25+ pumpkins in for storage.
The greenhouse is also undergoing its seasonal change. The bell peppers are done; the cherry tomato vines are looking tired (although still alive and producing a little, so they get to stay a bit longer). I took many of the randomly propagated perennial flower plants out of the greenhouse, and planted them in place of the fading annuals in the flower garden. I've divided some jasmine to make more for the yard, and started sugar snap pea, lavender, kale, celery, and cilantro seeds. I'm experimenting with planting a few other things "out of season," just to see what happens (e.g., some borage seeds I collected from this year's plants; cuttings from the carnations). I also rooted a dozen strawberry runners, even though I'm not sure if I'll be able to chill them properly to allow them to produce next year. But at least they are making a good hideaway for a fall-camouflaged frog!
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