Summer has come to a close, but my garden is still producing.
My pumpkins and zucchini have started to get that familiar powdery mildew that kills off the leaves in the fall, but the plants are still producing fruit. My tomatoes are bearing fruit as well. The potato harvest was not so well this year, and we are not sure why. The plants grow amazingly, bloomed profusely and looked wonderful all season. No potato bugs at all this year and although the voles got a couple of potatoes that I found chewed we really didn't have many good-sized potatoes at all. Our soil is good; we rotate our crops and fertilize and compost each year. So, guess what, even the garden guru doesn't have all the answers, hopefully we'll have better luck next year.

We have plenty of small potatoes that will be saved as seed for next season, I might try growing them in straw bales next year, that's one way I haven't tried with potatoes yet. Since moving my herb garden into the main garden, inside the chain link fence so the deer can't get them, my herbs have grown huge. I almost feel bad that I didn't use more herbs this year since they are so large. I recently cut and dried some herbs for winter storage but that didn't even make a dent in them. And most of the herbs that I have are perennial and will only get bigger next year.

I like things that you only have to plant once, and they keep producing year after year. Right now, I have rosemary, sage, thyme, chives and red sorrel that are all perennial and I plan on adding some more next spring. My basil and stevia are annual and will die off at the first frost but for now they are growing great. The stevia will get harvested soon, then dried and ground to be used as a sweetener in teas this winter.

I also have a perennial bed full of anise hyssop, blue fountain Agastache, that has leaves that taste like licorice so I will dry some of them as well to make a licorice tea. It tastes much better than it sounds, it is like drinking Good N Plenty's and is very good for sore throats. Basil on the other hand doesn't store well and is best used fresh. Vicki is not a big fan of basil so needless to say most of basil goes to waste.

I have a large patch of lavender as well that I haven't really utilized yet. I'm going to have to research some ideas of what I can do with it as I didn't even cut it back last year and really needs to be cut back this year as it is over growing the flowerbed that I have it in. I have a separate bed for different types of mint and lemon balm as they can get invasive as they grow. The first year I planted them, my deer ate them all, so I had to fence them in, but now that they are established and growing well the deer don't bother them at all and the fence has been down all season.

You want to be careful planting mints or balms in your flowerbeds as they can take over and crowd out other plants. My bed borders the lawn and if they move into the lawn, they just get mowed and my clippings smell better. Next year I may add some tarragon or winter savory into my herb as they are a couple more perennial herbs. French tarragon has better flavor, but Russian tarragon is more cold hardy if you live in the northern part of Sullivan County.

Horseradish is another perennial crop that once you have it, you'll have it for life. Horseradish can be considered a weed because it grows so well and is difficult to kill, that's why harvesting ninety percent of a horseradish patch each season will allow the horseradish to grow and spread the next year. Rhubarb is another perennial favorite, mostly used for cooking, Mother Nature's original sour patch candy. But the best part is that it keeps producing year after year. That's why I like berry bushes so much. I have a dozen black currants planted now all from cuttings off my original black currant I planted six years ago.

Now I'm working on pink currants, haskaps and jostaberries to round out my blueberry field. Berries are easy to preserve either by canning or freezing and be enjoyed all winter, spring and summer until the new crop comes in. I've written about the haskaps and jostaberries before, but I'll probably write about them again this year before the holidays. Stay tuned.