Our August Garden Is a JUNGLE! Harvesting Beans, Okra, Watermelons & More

It’s about two weeks into August, and our garden has officially turned into a JUNGLE! 🌱 We’ve been busy with work and everything else life throws at us, but the garden hasn’t slowed down. The Rattlesnake green beans are still producing, the okra is over 6 feet tall, we’re harvesting Sugar Baby watermelons and cantaloupes, and the tomatoes and peppers are finally coming along. In this August garden tour, I’ll take you around and show you what’s growing, what’s producing, what’s struggling, and what we’re planning for the rest of the season. Here’s what you’ll see: 🌱 Rattlesnake pole beans still producing on the trellis 🫘 Blue Lake bush beans 🌿 Crimson Spineless okra and our other okra varieties 🍉 Sugar Baby watermelons 🍈 Cantaloupes 🍅 German Johnson tomatoes 🍅 San Marzano sauce tomatoes 🌶️ Jalapeños, Shishito and Marconi Rossi peppers 🌻 Marigolds, zinnias, cosmos and our pollinator flowers 🌽 Corn that’s nearly finished for the season 🐛 Squash bugs causing serious problems 🌱 Succession planting plans for one more squash and zucchini crop 🌻 Saving flower seeds for next year’s garden We’re also talking about whether we’ll have enough San Marzano tomatoes to make our usual spaghetti sauce this year, and I’m looking forward to trying a salsa recipe from our friends Stan and Ronna at The Rambling Gardeners.    • We Made an Entire Batch of Salsa in ONE Tub?!   This isn’t a perfect garden—and it’s definitely not a magazine-cover garden! Between a full-time job, weeds, bugs, heat and trying to keep up with the harvest, we’re doing what we can when we can. But that’s real gardening. If you’re trying to keep up with your own garden while balancing work and everything else life brings, you’re definitely not alone. Thanks for joining us here at Melanchthon Creek Farm. If you enjoy gardening, growing your own food, companion planting, seed saving and seeing the real ups and downs of a backyard garden, consider subscribing and following along with us. What is your garden producing the most of right now? Let us know in the comments!