End of a Long, Great Summer

I have been lax in writing, because I have been gardening two gardens all summer. I have also just started graduate school (MLS). Busy times, and I can barely keep up!

Here are some photos of this year's two gardens.

And here are some of the highlights & info from the garden:

• The Waukesha Community Garden grew very well, and having a water system on a timer worked out since I could not guarantee when I could get to the garden. I ran the timer every other morning at 4 a.m. for two hours, rain or shine. 
• The three sisters squash/corn/beans worked okay. The squash are all huge and they love it, and the beans, too. The corn struggled. That may be the corn variety, the fact that the starts and seeds I planted all struggled early on (wind and harsh sun). Also, the beans and squash do drag them down a little. So, the corn are a little straggly and not as tall as the neighboring plots'.
• Pinto beans did fantastic at the Waukesha, but the cowpeas never flowered and so never seeded. 
• Oil sunflowers (two varieties) are all 8' - 10' tall and doing fantastic.
• Quinoa and amaranth were difficult to know when to pick. Amaranth has been picked, quinoa is still there and I hope to catch it before it drops. From everything I have read, it is not ready--the seeds are not hard enough. But we are quickly approaching the end of the season!
• At the home garden, yellow pear tomatoes and Tess's land currant tomatoes were the clear leaders--both are small tomatoes and were extremely prolific. 
• As always, summer squash ran gangbusters at both gardens and I have loaves or zucchini bread in the freezer next to bags and bags of shredded summer squash.