Well it has been an eventful summer.
Like every growing season you never know what to expect. You remain hopeful and just deal with the fall out.
This year it was torrential rain. Lots and lots of rain. A gentle rain in the forecast sometimes meant a downpour. My tomatoes suffered from too much water and eventually developed blight. A first for me. So not so many tomatoes as I hoped. Varieties that had been stand outs in the past just didn’t perform.
And apples. My crabapple out performed so much so I ended up cutting off branches so the tree wouldn’t snap. My backyard still stinks of rotting apples though. I wish I had cut my Cortland in the same way. It appeared fine. I had been picking from it the day before. But the sheer weight of the apples cause a major branch to break. I have talked to all the apple farmers here and they say the same thing happened to them. Many branches broken due to the weight. They assure me the tree will be fine.
I am still picking. Today I’m a taking apples over to an apple farm to have them pressed into cider. A first for me!
As far as flowers go, I have had mixed success. My zinnias? Outstanding! The trick is to cut them at the right time and that takes a bit of practice. My dahlias were mixed. The variety Santa Claus was beautiful and prolific. Tahiti Sunrise and Kelvin Floodlight were very good. Several varieties need a few more weeks of sunshine to bloom and I don’t think it is going to happen. Snapdragons from seed were so so. My marigolds have been outstanding, my calendula non-existent.
As we start into fall, I will be open for as long as the weather allows. Thank you for all your support this year in my first year of growing!
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