Many current garden trends  involve pushing away from a firm dividing line between the ornamental and functional. So instead of having a dedicated kitchen garden separated from the formal front yard, plants are combined for maximum use. A front yard specimen tree can also bear fruit,  annual flower beds contain a variety of vegetables and herbs, a shrub border provided habitat for birds and screening. I like this ideal. Mixing uses is more interesting, challenging and economical.

I’m working on an old project, a plant list spread sheet regarding plants in this area. I’m on the tree section, and one thing I’ve noticed is the division of ornamental and functional trees. Plant varieties have been commonly bred for only one purpose. For instance, plums are either bred for a specific fruit variety, or they are bred to not have fruit and look pretty. I can buy fruit that tastes great, or that have unique form or foliage, but hardly ever both. There are ornamental kale, peppers and herbs that blend the boundaries, but I would like to see more. How about a weeping apple tree, that still produces a good fall crop? Or grapes that are bred as much to be an ornamental vine as produce a good crop.

Do you know any good cross-purpose varieties, and what would you like to see?

The weeds, pests and I have reached a bit of a compromise in the garden. I am not longer to weed or treat (I’ve give up), but they also promise not to get any worse. Well, all except the zucchini are dying. Zucchini are not impenetrable. I’ve actually had quite a few die to wilt disease.

The kids love to play out there. I’ve lost my toddler as he sat in the back of the garden, picking unripe vegetables.

The giant sunflowers are a big hit. I’m still not sure if I’m actually going to harvest the seeds: I might leave the heads out as a natural bird feeder instead.

Right now, I’m getting plenty of cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, and cantaloupe. A few weeks back, I used a batch of cucs to make fermented dill pickles. They were doing great: smelled wonderful. But one day I opened up the bucket and discovered a foul smelling bacteria growing over everything. So the pickles ended up in the compost pile. I did try one: it was crisp and tasted amazing, except of the hint of foul bacteria growth. (I didn’t eat more than one, and I didn’t get sick off of it.) It give me motivation to try again, and I was pleasantly surprised the striped armenianas remained crisp. Next time, I’ll need to check them more, and probably can or refrigerator them earlier.

Here’s another shot of the sunflowers. I love them.

I should be enjoying a bountiful harvest, planting out fall crops, loving the fruits of the labor in spring.

My harvest is decent, but not great. I’m skipping fall crops, minus the beans that I planted a month ago. And I feel like this garden has just been a battle against pests.

It hasn’t been used or maintained in years, and surrounded by feral waste places, my garden is a breeding ground for pests. This is the list so far:

• Slugs
• Grasshoppers
• Aphids
• Spider mites
• Blossom end rot
• Tomato cracking
• Cats scratching up melons
• Stink bugs on tomatoes
• Cucumber beetles
• Wilting of squash (I lost five plants)
• And lots of weeds

Many of these pests focus on preventive control. Part of my problem is the furrow irrigation that I do not control. The garden gets pretty flooded at times.  I’ve sprayed my plants off occasionlly with water, but otherwise, I haven’t done anything for my list of pests. And I’m not planning to. The cost of any control far exceeds the value of the produce.

But the giant sunflowers do look good. They are probably around 15′ tall.