In the garden August 28

It's high summer here now- and a little fall-ish too- just like that, the mornings are cool, and the breeze is a bit chilly, we're seeking out sweaters. The garden is growing, and ready to harvest- there are rows that we'll to put to bed soon. This is the time to remember all the things that didn't work out- to take notes for next year's garden.

The barley is ready to be harvested, the onions pulled- the potatoes need to be dug- the beets even, are ready to pull. I have to figure out if I care enough about the lentils to pick off the teeny tiny pods and then..oh god...shell them. The beans are drying down and almost ready to pick- I'll have to find the planting sheet (usually scribbled on a random piece of dirt stained paper) so I know what's what out there.

The Eggplant is a no-show again this year- should I give up? Next year I will try Chinese style eggplant the long thin ones- and give up my dreams of the big fat dark purple fruits. At least until the kids are older,(I'm much too stubborn to give up altogether) and I can go to the trouble of hand-pollinating and possibly greenhouse-ing them- I think heat is the problem this year- not enough- or something, It's getting weird with the eggplant not producing three years in a row, I mean, what the F, any ideas?

I'm getting my last cuts for drying in- sage, calendula, dill, savory, oregano. I'm also starting to think about cuttings for next year's garden- looking for an- all natural homemade rooting hormone recipe, a cursory google search suggests saliva...I'm doubtful...). The tomatoes are still coming in- but the problem is we thought that we'd plant less of each type- ten each of saucing varities, five each of drying, which in theory should work well- if all the tomatoes ripened at the same time, but the truth is- they don't, and it's hard to make a batch of dry tomatoes, or sauce for the freezer with four ripe ones. I'm going to try pulling all the large green ones off, and letting them ripen inside to hopefully make it easier to make sauce etc.

The smaller numbers of plants are working well for the fresh eating type ones, we've got enough for a couple every day and we're not feeling the pressure to eat tomatoes at every meal- though sometimes we do anyhow. The only downside is that we won't have a lot to give away, en masse, as we usually do, until the frost comes anyhow.