10-20 update

Just wanted to post some pics I took this morning before I get back to work preparing more beds.

first here is a pumpkin vine with a couple pumpkins growing :

Next we have the Red kale. Two of the plants have died. This is why I always grow a few extras so I will transplant two of them into this bed this evening.
 

Next a shot across the back garden area. A volunteer watermelon vine popped up so I figured I would let it grow and see what we get. These are the last two beds I plan on redoing and it won't be for a while so maybe we'll get a melon or two.

Here are some seedlings that I plan on transplanting later today. I have Pac Choi, a couple varieties of lettuce, some Fordhook Giant swiss chard, and some Grannex sweet onions to transplant. There are also some pepper starts but they need to get larger first.

Here is my broccoli and cabbage bed. I thinned them out this morning.

Next are the cucumbers which had done just fantastic this year so far.. The first pic shows four pepper plants in the front.
 

Now onto the squash. The last couple times I tried zucchini they failed miserably. So far these squash are producing well and the plants are very healthy.

Any day now I will be picking some beans. Here are the Royalty Purple beans.

And the Derby bush beans.

Finally a few squash and cucumbers picked yesterday and this morning.

And now back to work for me. The weather is excellent as a cool front blew through this morning.

First fall harvest

 The first harvest is always pretty exciting for me. Especially when you wait for so long and finally can pick something ready to eat. Well that day came today!! Cucumbers are loading down my vines!! I love these Asian cucumbers much better than any that I have grown before.

Here they are in all their glory:

Here is a lady bug doing her job on the cucumber leaf constantly looking for aphids to devour.

Here we have a few Pac Man broccoli plants and some cabbage. They still need to be thinned out. I plant a few together in each seed starter container because if I don't then I always lose a couple after transplanting them. This way I just thin them out when they get large enough to be certain they won't die.

 I also decided to try some red kale this year. I have never grown it before but after eating some a while ago I figured I would try growing it myself. It was quite good.
 

Finally a pumpkin that didn't get destroyed from the pickle worms. The Monterey Garden Insect Spray worked wonders on them. Since it is organic and similar to Bt I have no doubts about using it.

My squash are beginning to produce now, too. I'm not sure what variety this is because they all were given to me. This is some type of straight neck and I also have a few yellow squash plants.

And lastly a shot of the Derby bush beans which are really flowering well.

October 7 Update

The first week of October has now passed but it sure doesn't feel like October. Rain rain and more rain constantly falling. This keeps everything wet and the ground soggy so I can't work the soil up in the beds. Also the heat index stays up around 100 everyday which the plants aren't too fond of. I've had a few tomatoes die but when I start seeds I always start extras to replace any that don't work out.

The warm muggy nights keeps the moths active. Especially the pickleworms which have done a number on my pumpkins, cucumbers and now squash. I try to pick them off by hand as much as possible but there is just no way to get them all and it only takes a few to keep the cycle going. I sprayed with BT but that seemed only to have a limited effect. Last night I hit everything with Spinosad which is like BT but not the same bacteria. This morning while examining the results I found dead and dying pickleworm larvae all over the leaves. Maybe this will keep them at bay and I will get some crops after all.

The Carambola tree is just busting out with blooms I even found a couple fruit hiding up inside it. We like these and since they cost $1.99 each at the local Publix this tree already paid for itself after the first 10 I picked.

Here is the pumpkin vine. You can see the damage the pickleworms do to the leaves. Then they burrow into the flowers and any fruit that begin to form already have a worm inside which destroys the fruit.

Both of my peach trees started to bloom. This is kind of weird because they usually don't bloom until spring after they have had enough chill hours. Someone on another forum said theirs did the same thing and suggested that it might be because the winter was so warm last year that we really didn't have one. We'll see what happens as they should start losing their leaves for the winter. If it shows up this year.

Here even the blueberry plants have a couple berries on them. They have grown a lot over  the summer and I am hoping for a good crop next spring.

 Next are the Asian Cucumbers. They have really taken off and are now full of blooms and several fruit. The pickleworms love cucumbers too and there is a lot of damage on the leaves. So far the fruits haven/t been affected and I soaked them real well with Monterety Insect spray which has Spinosad in it. There were a lot of dead larvae on the leaves this morning.

Here is a future cucumber in it's infancy.

I pulled up the peppers which were all malformed and circling the drain. In their place I planted some Jetsetter Tomatoes I started from seed. They are doing well.
 

The zucchini and straightneck squash plants I was given are blooming and some have fruit forming on them

A male and female flower next to each other.

Here is a pickleworm larvae that succumbed to the Spinosad. That is what we like to see.

Here are the Royalty Purple Beans which are beginning to flower.

The Derby Beans are doing well, too. Also they are putting out flowers so we should be harvesting fresh beans in a couple weeks. Hopefully I will be able to can some this time around.

I noticed this little beasty munching on a pepper plant this morning while sitting outside having a cup of coffee. At first I thought it was just a weird looking leaf but no it is a Tomato Hornworm. Usually they hit the tomatoes but also will attack the peppers and eggplant.

And finally here is the start of remaking a bed into a double stacked concrete block bed. I have several more of these to make and then run the pvc for the drip system. Once it's done though then the hardest part is over.

That's all I have for now.