Gardening update

We are finally getting the weather we should have had for the last month or so.   Clear, warm days and cool nights.  After last week's cold and rain, it is taking most crops a few days to get back to growing again.  The brassicas should be shining right now, but the insidious swede midge has attacked virtually all the cole crops and it looks like I wasted a lot of time on the broccoli and cauliflower.   The only way to beat this pest organically is to not grow the crop for at least 2 years and hope there are no wild host crops like mustard to sustain the midge population.  It would be interesting to find out how the pest came to inhabit Almena Gardens.  Meanwhile, the winter squash crop is maturing.  The early wet weather this summer greatly reduced the number of vines and a weed infestation hampered what survived, but there is a crop to be harvested.  Lettuce, kale, collards, cukes, zukes and herbs are still abundant and likely to last until frost.  Overall it has been a frustrating season with a few bright spots.  Maybe it is time to start a local chapter of Gardener's Anonymous.