End of Summer in Sight

The end of summer is in sight but we are still enjoying our garden trials, errors, successes and failures.  Terry wanted to grow Sunflowers so we planted four seedlings that we started indoors under the grow lights.  The package advertised that the Sunflowers would grow to be twelve feet tall.  Two of the Sunflowers were broken down in their infancy by squirrels who thought jumping onto the stems was fun.  A third Sunflower youth was also broken down by a squirrel but refused to die.  It is bravely trying to survive and even has formed a small flower "head" while partially laying on the ground.  That is determination.  The last remaining upright Sunflower is now almost six foot tall and a "head" is forming.  We decided to take a photo in case a varmint destroys it by using the stalk as a ladder to reach the arborvitae.

Most of our crops did fairly well this year in spite of a very dry period followed by more rain than the garden could handle.  Having raised beds in a wet season is helpful but we had too much rain and the beds couldn't drain as well as normal.  After the zucchini plants were finished producing we planted three seeds in another bed in hopes of growing a late crop. Two of the seeds germinated and are growing nicely.  This was another trial to see if we could get a second crop of zucchini.  Now we wait and see if it works......