Go go go! My summer harvest is pretty much gone thanks to a combination of great heat and groundhogs. I’ll still get some slicers and sweet 100’s, but damn you are killing it. I think you’ve earned the right to do a little dance

Oh wow. These are gorgeous. Got any good plans for them?

Are you sure your friend isn’t just three beavers in a long coat?

They’re colorful and they have a flavor!

He’s cute, sure, but that litter fucker is gonna do some excavating. I can see it in his eyes. His giant, adorable, puddle-of-love eyes

Bummer.

I’m gonna go with either spider mites or fungus/bacteria. Probably the latter like one of the leaf spots or possibly downy mildew, though it seems a bit deep into summer for downy. That last picture has some pinpoints of color on the leaf that look like they could be spider mite damage, but I’d still put the safe money on a leaf spot. This far along, you’d be able to easily find them if they’re there.

Get what you can from it all, maybe hit it with some neem once a week to see if that’ll slow down the decline, but I think that’s just gonna be cucurbit hospice.

Ah man, that expression. Such a mood

No worries! I added some notes on support and irrigation I forgot to mention

We had an insanely wet spring, then have been dry for about three weeks before the storms that kicked through yesterday.

Damn, man. Two weeks of summer and it’s already a drought on you guys? You’re a masochist

Thank you! Here’s hoping!

Yup! As was said, they’re just cattle fence made into round cages. The bottoms I lined with some landscaping fabric for a growing medium (75/25 compost/soil) and planted the potatoes about half way down. From there I just mound up in straw.

Edit: I forgot a few details. They’re held up on either side by t-posts. Nothing fancy, just driven in and wired to each post three times (top, center, bottom) for stability and support. I put sprinklers on the top because that’s what I had, though I do want to do something different in the future. I don’t like top watering, but I haven’t quite figured out how I wanna do it otherwise. I’m thinking a strand or two of drip that gets mounded up with the potato as it grows, but that’s experimenting for another time

There’s some folks that will actually do a core of medium up the center for new potato roots to take hold in. I’m trying something that’s a little more fertilizer-intense, but easier to scale up. Little blood meal every couple weeks while they’re growing up then some 10-10-10 twice (once at the beginning and once again here in a bit).

If I can make this work in my home garden, I’m hoping to tweak it a bit for larger scale. We’ll see

Well, I might have spoken too soon. I neen on vacation this week and just saw the second most haggard groundhog I’ve ever seen strolling through my beds without a care in the world. I bet you anything that’s my critter

Hell yeah! That’s been a long time coming. I bet it’s gonna feel fuckin fantastic, but also don’t think you gotta rush yourself. That’ll get your hurt going for sure

The sunflowers are the top right. Top left was one half of my black beans. Some kind of pole bean that was given to me

I usually do stuff like marigolds and coneflower among stuff to keep them out, but I got lazy this year and they’ve been pretty merciful until the night before last

I had a cousin get thrashed by a buck in rut once. They have all the necessary bits to really do some damage

I love citronella when it blooms. I should put more of that out in my yard

US, East Coast, Mid-Atlantic, 7a

Every deer would like to know your location

Beautiful! You really put some umph into this

Nice. Watch it start taking over in the next couple seasons

Nah, that’s actually broccoli. The kale is right behind it. I do black magic kale and it is usually the last thing to start bolting. But! This is a good thing. I’m hoping to collect seeds this year, though I don’t know where I’m hoping this particular broccoli is getting pollinated from. We’ll see!

No worries! And yeah, I could see that. If that does end up being the case, then it’s pretty much a goner. Try getting some of the sun off them and keep an eye out for root rot or light brown spots where the flesh feels soft. If they recover, just too much heat. If they start going rotten, might as well pull it so it won’t spread so much