This last weekend in August found me in the garden wishing I could restart the month. I’m not ready for the growing season to wind down, especially when I’m having such great success with my hugelkulturs. I’d love another month of warm weather to make the most of my efforts, but the weather’s starting to change. Yesterday morning it was so cool that I could see my breath as I hung laundry on the line – the wet clothes were steaming in the chilly morning.

For the first time ever I’ve grown green peppers to rival the grocery’s. I’m not sure if it’s the hugelkultur, the irt mulch, or the wind protectors I put up around the peppers, but it’s working. It’s so beautiful that I don’t want to eat it, but there are more to come.

The chickens are enjoying the spent raised beds. The peas are gone, a lone tomato and a few green onions are all that are left.

My first planting of lettuce got away from me and has bolted, but my mid-summer plantings are looking good. They’re in the same raised bed as the carrots and I can cover them when the weather turns to keep them going if need be.

My four hugelkulture beds today. The pumpkins on the far left are fading as are the pickling cucumbers, but the tomatoes are going strong. The lemon cucumbers are taking off – possibly because the pumpkin vines are dying back and they can finally get a bit of sun. Every day I pick more tomatoes than we can eat.

Gorgeous cherry tomatoes – my favorite vegetable of the season.

I’m not the only one enjoying the garden. Grasshoppers have taken up residence.

I love watching the pumpkins turn from green to orange.

I planted both Connecticut Field and Sugar pumpkins this year and both have done great.

However, a couple of weeks ago the leaves of the pumpkins and my one zucchini (only one – what was I thinking!) developed powdery white mildew on the leaves. Probably because I made the mistake of fencing the pumpkins in so the critters couldn’t get them. The result was a very overcrowded pumpkin patch.

With the vines dying prematurely (is late August premature?), I harvested the lot of them. Aren’t they beautiful! Two field pumpkins and thirteen sugar pumpkins.

Harvested a few weeks ago, I’ve had the garlic drying on the porch. It’s now cleaned and put up for use. There’s nothing better than fresh garlic.

My last remaining lupine has gone to seed.

I picked the remaining pods and will save the seeds to plant next year.

The past three weeks I’ve been harvesting and drying marjoram and three different types of oregano for our pizza spice. This jar will last us the winter.

As I picked blackberries this little girl followed in my wake rushing in to rescue the berries I dropped. This morning’s muffins were banana and blackberry. Last Sunday they were peach and blackberry (absolutely wonderful, by the way). The week before was wild berry – blackberry, blueberry and raspberry. A couple of weeks before that were wild blueberry. I’ll miss the berries when the season is over. As will miss Henrietta there!