We decided to do some thinning out in the garden the other day and wound up cleaning most of it up.
The tomato plants pretty much breathed their last a while ago– there were a few straggler romas hanging on the vines, but for the most part the plants were exhausted. It might have been the hot and dry August we just came through, but no amount of care seemed to help them keep going. I was a little surprised because in the past I’ve been able to keep tomato plants going well into the first frost of October.
The green beans produced a second wave and we have a bunch of cayenne and jalapeno peppers along with some nice cucumbers.
What remains in the garden are our white onions, which should be ready to be pulled in about a week.

I’m pretty sure we overcrowded the garden this year, which contributed to some of the issues we faced. We kind of expected issues since this year was really an experiment in what we could accomplish in that corner of the yard. Part of our plan for next year is to limit what’s in the backyard garden and do some serious planting at the community garden where I had some things growing back in 2003.
The sunflowers did well, and I’ll be drying the flower heads to get seeds for next year’s crop.
The top layer of the garden consists of the compost Lisa made. More to follow on that.