Back, Jack, do it Again.....

Steely Dan is in my head as I come in from planting the second round. I have not usually planted a second garden in one growing season, but since our summers are so much longer now and since I had so much destruction from squash bugs and Mr. Groundhog, I feel like I didn't get as much out of it as I deserved.

Last year I came back from a trip and was so sad to see everything obliterated with no promise of any harvest for the next several hot summer-like months.

I wasn't finished eating Caprese salad! I hadn't even made gazpacho once. My peppers had just started taking off. Hadn't they?

I am lucky enough to have a Kenneth, my garden guru who gives me (sometimes unsolicited) advice, guidance and helps with some of the big work. I use a small Stihl tiller for weeding and in between jobs, but for the massive tilling at the beginning and end of the season, an industrial size tiller is required and I just don't have the skill or strength to operate one.

So when I told Kenneth to go ahead and till up the garden, I didn't expect EVERYTHING to be gone when I came back. There were sad little red tomatoes laying on the ground! My blueberry vines were gone! Where was my Autumn Sedum and my wildflowers and sunflowers the birds had been enjoying?

SO, LESSON LEARNED! Specify next time! Needless to say, plants are amazing and my blueberries came back as did the rest. It amazes me every year that even after being pummeled into oblivion, onions, fennel, even parsley and tomatoes come back the following year.

As I write this, I am working on another zucchini bread (yes, I am addicted to it) with my last 2 zucchinis.

The tomatoes have been hit and miss this year, but some are producing better than others.

What can you plant the second time around? The opinions vary and it seems that everybody I ask has a different set of guidelines about what can go in and what can't.

So I went down to the seed and supply store and lo and behold found tomatoes, squash and cucumber seedlings, plus all the seeds were still out. So I bought some of everything.

I still had seeds left from the beginning of the season, so I decided to use some of those, too.

This is what I have planted so far from seed:

• Peas: sugar snow and sugar snap


• Beets: Choggia, Bull's Blood, Scarlett


• Okra: red and spineless


• Cilantro


• Beans: bush, pole and runner


• Zucchini: black


• Broccoli: Nutri-bud and purple


• Broccoli Rabe (also called rapini)


• Spinach: long-leaf


• Lettuce: Four Seasons ( a red-tipped leafy)

I planted seedlings, too:

• Tomatoes: Longkeeper, Roma and some heirlooms are coming by mail


• Summer squash: Straight-neck yellow


• Cucumbers: Hybrid and a burpless


• Mini peppers

I haven't planted the pumpkin seeds I got yet, as I thought it was too late, but there are some you can plant this late in the season.

I'm looking forward to my other seedlings coming, including spinach, zucchini, and tomatoes because I always like to have some back-up plants in case the seeds do something weird.

You can still order plants from Tasteful Garden and seeds from Seeds of Change and plant them, but I would suggest getting them in as soon as possible.

There are charts online that will give you a general guideline of what you can plant and when. It depends on your agricultural zone and your average first frost date. This information can be found at your cooperative extension office.Here is a link that has a good chart for the schedule: http://www.yankeegardener.com/resource/fall-veg.html

Well, my zucchini bread is finished and smells great, so I'm off!

Good luck and happy gardening!