A late summer garden

Our tomato plants fell over!! Notice how some of those poles are leaning to the right? They're not supposed to do that! The plants got so large and strong that they have simply broke their stakes. We tried to stand them back up, with the aid of metal fence posts (!) and had some success, but we might lose some of the plants from all the drooping.


Nonetheless, they are producing wonderful fruit! There is little better in the summertime than freshly picked tomatoes garnished with fresh basil, mozzarella cheese, and a dribble of olive oil and some balsamic vinegar.


Our pumpkin plants have suffered a bout of powdery mildew, which is unfortunate. We've had to trim back most of the leaves on the plants that sprawl for 10-15 feet out from their starting points. They have some green leaves left, as well as three pumpkins. These are pie pumpkins, so they won't grow as large as jack o'lantern ones, but as you can see, this one is already turning orange.


We have some flowers in our garden as well; my favorite, perhaps, is the lavender. I have 5 lavender plants... I know, I got a bit obsessed. One is "Provence," and I have two each of "Hidcote" and "Lavender Vera (true english)." I believe this is one of the Veras; the Hidcotes are taking a while longer to flower. They are young plants, so the yield of lavender stalks has been kind of small this summer.