turnings

if anything the garden looks more like autumn this morning than it did last week...which is only reasonable since august is nearly gone and mod-summer's day has passed as well...as usual though there is ambiguity in this...

the asparagus is till verdant...

and it has sent up an august spear...

there is dichotomy 9in the asparagus though...the berries are ripening ( i took two that were done ) a sure sign the season is late...

around the back of the bed the potatoes are showing signs of finishing up...

and the squash has found a new trellis...

while a less fortunate vine has invaded the garden lawn...

the maize has fall written all over its countenance...

something ( one? ) has been having a look inside the husks and then declining the ears...

except this one which was carried off wholesale...by some critter i should think given the way the husk was ripped open on the stalk rather than the ear removed husk and all...

while other ears that are as far along remain untouched...

the pole bean vines in the maize are blooming and producing...i found some mature beans which i took...

and i found a ripe tomato on the plant in the midst of the maize that someone missed...

another unmistakable sign is the vines framing the overripe cucumbers are dying back from the bottom up...i saw all of two open blooms at the tops of the vines...ans while there may be some buds i missed, they are just about done for the year...in thirty four days autumn is official...unless we're talking meteorological fall...then it's only twelve.

carnage in the corn belt

our luck ran out...finally...there have been critters in the maize beds...both of them...the sweet corn is pretty much toast ( although to be honest it was well past its prime anyway ) and there have been predators in the hopi blue as well...this is what i expected when we planted and i am a bit surprised it took this long...the maize in my back yard went down to squirrels a month ago or so and it was a matter of time until they got to the community garden...the season is beginning to change ( even though daytime temperatures recently would seem to belie this ) and everything is preparing for autumn and winter...including critters stoking up on calories for the cold to come..it's okay..the price gardeners pay..subverting the natural carrying capacity of the neighborhood for our benefit in food crops ( not to mention zoyza grass and landscaping ) displaces some critters...but others stubbornly carve out a niche...in my back yard...or yours...or the community garden...more as it comes up....forgot to mention that i brought in what i could salvage as far as finished maize goes...i can share hopi blue seed after it dries if anyone is interested in arguing with squirrels next year.