Despite powdery mildew’s best efforts, the tomatoes and zucchini are ripening hand over fist. Our basil is growing by leaps and bounds. Beets are bursting through the soil’s surface. Even the peppers are looking good, although there are signs of that stinking pepper maggot on a few. So, there’s plenty to keep me busy in the vegetable garden. Next, there will be fall crops. And to top it off, we’re moving. At the end of next week. Perfect timing.

We’re not moving far away—just over a mile down the road from our current home. The walk to our community garden plot will now be a bicycle or car ride, and it likely won’t be as frequent. Thankfully the September garden needs a bit less care than the midsummer garden. It’s not as hot, and thanks to a nearby building and the sun lower in the sky, the garden is shaded for half the afternoon. Daily watering won’t be as critical.

Transitioning the garden

To make the first few weeks of transition a bit easier on us and the garden, I’ve gone ahead and removed the underperforming crops—the kohlrabi that never grew more than 3 inches, the cabbage that suffered from scale, the cauliflower that was chewed by flea beetles. I also harvested the potatoes, which you see above. The flea beetles discovered they had a taste for potato leaves, too, and rather leaving them in their box I harvested the lot—which ended up being about 20 good-sized potatoes. And my, they were so tasty.

In place of these crops I am sowing some fall crops.

Sowing fall crops

Having harvested the last of the lettuce a few weeks ago, another row or two is going in its place. I liked the packet I planted in spring—Farmers Market Lettuce Blend from Renee’s Garden, which is a blend of greens and reds, but believe me, you end up with way more reds than greens, definitely.

I still have chard growing. However, I plan on adding another planting this week. I liked the Pot of Gold variety (also from Renee’s) which is meant for containers, but it is okay in the round, as well. I plan to harvest the remaining chard to make veggie lasagnas to pop in the freezer for quick meals as we move and unpack.

The potato box will once again become a carrot box, its original purpose two seasons ago. I have four open packets of various carrot varieties beyond their supposed expiration date, and I’m going to do something a typically straight-laced person like myself wouldn’t do—mix them together. Wild, I know. With the extended fall I am expecting, I should get a nice crop of something.

Another several rows of beets are going in. You can never have too many beets in my opinion.

I was stingy with my spinach seed this spring, somehow knowing an early summer would make it all bolt too quickly. I’m planting the rest of it next week.

Kale. And this time I’m putting down a layer of row cover to keep those flea beetles away.