No gorgeous photos of a summer garden here. This is “truth in gardening.” The ‘Queen Red Lime’ zinnias are the best things happening in my garden now. Looking closely though, you can see the powdery mildew on the leaves. Lower leaves are heavily affected.

The photos below show how my garden looks now while I impatiently wait to clear the raised beds and plant the fall-winter garden.

Seed saving is not attractive but it is part of the process. Here you can see cranberry bean and ‘Emerite’ pole beans.

My lone butternut squash plant supports four good-sized fruits. I hope the plant has what it takes to bring them to harvest. The trellised cucumber has a few more cucumbers coming along and new growth looks promising but it will suddenly finish as in other years.

The succession crop of cannellini beans for drying and the bell peppers shun the powdery mildew and prefer the warmer weather of August.

My May planted staked tomatoes, on the left, languish. ‘Early Girl’ has produced about fifteen good-sized tomatoes but the ‘Cherokee Purple’ has yet to yield a tomato. On the right, the mid-July planted ‘Cherokee Purple’ tomato looks much healthier and the black cherry in the cage is robust.

The strawberry guava and tangerine trees offer hope for the next few months. Next month I’ll be clearing most of the raised beds and planting the cool season garden. I’ve written about the winter garden many times. The vegetables I grow in the cool season are among my favorites. There is less pest pressure, less irrigation required and fewer weeds. Gardening for a Second Season.

So for now I tolerate the messiness of the waning summer garden.