The August Garden

It's the first of August and we've turned a corner.  August means that fall is not that far away, and thank goodness.  Cooler temps have gotta be coming soon. 

*crossing my fingers*

We garden and homesteading bloggers often make it look as if we lead easy, carefree lives in a land of perfection.  I'm about to stomp soundly on that fantasy with my muck boots by showing you some not-so-pretty pictures of the farm as it looks right now.

So leave your rose-colored glasses on the patio table, grab your mason jar and come with me.

It already seems like fall with all the leaves dropping from the trees.  This heat and prolonged extreme drought are really taking their toll on everything.  I'm mourning the fact that we probably won't have a fall with beautiful colors this year.  Heck, at this point, I'd just be happy to have the trees survive.

This picture is pretty embarassing, actually.  Maybe somebody should clean this place up!  And maybe that would be me if it weren't still 97 degrees outside at almost 9 p.m. 

The strawberries actually look pretty good and have filled in nicely.  This is the bed after J. and I spent a couple of hours sweating and weeding...and sweating some more.  Without our constant attention over the last 5 weeks, the weeds took over.  But, to be honest, those weeds shaded the strawberry plants and are probably the reason they're still alive.  As you can tell, we have more weeding to do.

Poor almost-dead Early Girl tomato.  Like many of the other plants, I would rip her out if there weren't still tomatoes waiting to ripen.  The only good thing here is that the tomato plant and cage are providing something for the Sugary Baby watermelon vines to climb up.  They're loving this weather and are quickly overtaking 1/2 the raised bed.

At least the Roma tomatoes are doing well.  They're a little crisp around the edges, but producing like mad.

And, finally, my cucumbers.  They are just now starting to take off despite my constant battle with the cuke beetles.  Tons of blooms on these, but no cucumbers have set.  I wonder if I'll get any this year?

Well, thanks for touring my poor garden.  I wish I could show you those beautiful plants that I had last year, but they just aren't here.  I'm not going to be sad about it anymore.  I'm not going to dwell.  Remember, failure is a learning experience!

Thanks for stopping by and before you go:  don't forget to enter my Amazon gift card giveaway.  It ends on Saturday!