The Constant Gardner Blog Index
August 29, 2008
A little update

The peaches and tomatoes are coming in.

We have had peaches for most of the past week. The only problem is preparing them. We do it on the patio, not wanting to attract fruit flies into the house. And the days are getting shorter, so it is tough to find daylight preparing time. They have tasted good in pancakes and on cereal.

We also have been having tomatoes and cucumbers daily. It's the way August should be in Maine.

Except that we have now eaten at least once every type of food the garden will produce this year. Tomatoes, watermelon, squash, blueberries and all of the earlier items like peas, strawberries and raspberries. It's a little sad.

We do have lots coming, still. We have barely touched the onions and potatoes, and the squash, cucumbers and tomatoes are going fairly strong. We did have to start watering the vegetables Wednesday. If only the rain from earlier in the month could have been stretched out a bit...

My column in the Telegram Sunday is about tomatoes, and what might be ailing your tomatoes -- and mine.

And here are a couple more flower pictures that Nancy took recently.

lilies_400x300.shkl.jpg

This lily is called Muscadet, which is easy to remember because Muscadet is one of my favorite summer wines. I somewhat foolishly feel a connection to Muscadet because the best of them come from a region called de Sevre et Maine, and I really like Maine. ... Yes, I know it is a stretch.

The bulbs came from Brent and Becky's bulbs.

echinaceaheliopsis_400x266.shkl.jpg

We have to walk through this patch of echinacea (the purple flowers) and heliopsis (the yellow ones) walking from the house to the garden. It is not a bad stroll to take.

Have a great Labor Day weekend. And ignore the newscasts. It is not the end of summer, and even more so not the end of gardening season.

Copyright 2008 Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Posted at 06:36 AM

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Tom Atwell has written the Maine Gardener column in the Maine Sunday Telegram since the spring of 2004. He has worked at the Press Herald/Sunday Telegram since 1974, about the same time he started gardening with any seriousness.

He gardens with his wife, Nancy. She not only is the better gardener of the pair, but also knows the botanical names of plants. They have two grown children and three grandchildren.

Tom was born in Skowhegan, grew up in Farmington and graduated from the University of Maine with a BA in journalism. His goal each year is to have continuous compost from his three compost bins, continuous bloom in his low-maintenance garden and more fruits and vegetables on his family table than the garden pests eat in the field.



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