The bush beans have taken a nosedive, including the dragon tongue beans, and I’ve begun pulling out the brown, skeletal plants in the first bed. So this may be your last week to purchase beans, unless the shaggy green giant that is a teepee of pole beans decides to surprise me with an abundant harvest.

Tomatoes, though, are still going strong. I have a plethora of lemony green zebra tomatoes, as well as Abraham Lincolns and a few Aunt Glees and Hungarian hearts. I also still have plenty of garlic, and I might cut some fresh basil, so you can make some tomato sauce (or soup) this weekend!

As you can see in the top photo, the butternut squash vines are lush and beautiful next to the tangle of tomatoes. I’m trying an heirloom variety this year called orange butternut, which the seed catalog promises will be as vibrantly orange as it is green now, rather than the usual dull tan.

In addition to new plant varieties, I enjoy discovering friends in the garden: toads, spiders, bees, snakes, praying mantis. I don’t often have a camera on me outside, but I did manage to get a few shots of garden wildlife over the past week or so. And yes, that spider is about as big as my palm. She appears to be a black and yellow garden spider (yes, that’s the name), and I’m happy to have her helping the several praying mantis with pest control.

The New Market Farmer’s Market will be open tomorrow afternoon, though with rain in the forecast, you may want to keep an eye on their Facebook page for updates. As always, if we get rained out or you can’t make it to the market tomorrow, you are welcome to contact me for on-farm or in-town pickup.