Blue Lake and Cherokee Wax Bush Beans
When Mother Nature says its time to bring in the harvest, its time to bring in the harvest. Over the last few days the Blue Lake Bush Green Beans have begun their standard prolific output. So far I’ve brought in two colanders full of beautiful beautiful beans from the approximately 5 x 12 feet of this stuff that I planted after harvesting the garlic in mid-July.
August is Tomato Heaven
August is all about The Tomato Tsunami. The end of July and August is full of promises: a few ripe cherry tomatoes, a small Brandywine, a handful of early grape tomatoes. The sun shines hot, we have some rain, and the tomatoes love it. The next thing you know, it’s the Tomato Tsunami: instead of a hopeful trip to the garden to hunt for a lone tomato that might be (almost) ready to pick, you come back laden with a basket filled with cherry and grape tomatoes, Black Krim, Ball’s Beefsteak (which I keep accidentally calling BeefHeart because they are heart shaped), Margrove, and even the first Tatar of Mongolistan (which I just can’t wait to eat: it’s got such a cool name and story)! I’ve documented the harvest, so that next year I can look back and decide what to plant…
This has been a wonderful August for the garden, with hot sunny days balanced with plentiful rain. The green beans are growing over onto the walkway, the parsnips are knee high, and the Margarita sweet potatoes have covered the ground in florescent lime… I could make a Litany of The Flowers: Black-Eyed Susan like a cluster of suns, Okra with soft yellow flowers peeking out amongst the jeweled red and green leaf and stem, with seedpods like rockets reaching towards the heavens. I discover lavender blossoms tucked in among the lavish burgundy foliage of the Blackie Sweet Potato, and delicate white arugula flowers tucked among the stone edging. Meanwhile, I’ve been harvesting tomatoes, tomatoes, and more tomatoes, okra, and kale.
I’ve updated the photo album with the best photos of the August garden.
The garden is turning into a jungle. Beware of Tigers!
Tonight’s project was adding a photo album to my site, so that I could have a nice and locally hosted place to put pics from the garden. It’s going to take a while to get everything up there, but for now, I’ve started it with a Westlake Garlic Photo Album showing a sample of scapes and bulbs from my Westlake Garlic harvest this year.
Westlake Rocambole Garlic. Vampires Beware!
I’m now keeping a copy of my garden spreadsheet on it’s own page on this site, available for download. It’s a log of the assorted seeds and plants I have acquired and have grown or am growing in my Zone 6 Westlake Ohio garden, along with summaries of how the plants have performed or produced under the not-always-ideal conditions I have inflicted upon them. The spreadsheet is by no means complete, and certainly not authoritative, but I’ve found it helpful for my own growing.
Hey, right now I’m waaaaaayyyyy too busy with my garden and building the rest of the site, so the garden blog has NOTHING in it. But….. I’m enjoying fresh heirloom tomatos, and ask me about my Coyote Westlake Garlic. 
The green beans are growing FAST...
