That's a nice harvest, Amy. We had a great potato year here too.

My experience with straw or hay bale beds is that bermuda grass grows underneath the straw or hay and right up through it, and then Johnson grass does the same, so I'll likely never build straw or hay bale beds again. The bales might smother less aggressive grasses, but they don't stop the two I mentioned.

I could have bought organic potatoes for the price I paid for straw and water and seed potatoes. I don't have enough room to grow in worth while quantities. Don't want to hear that about the grass, Dawn, LOL. The plan was potatoes in straw then cowpeas and finally daikon radishes. I believe we chose a low spot for this bed, so I think we will have to add to it next year. Funny how I have discovered low spots in my flat yard this year!

Maybe I should get some wood chips and build a lasagna bed to over winter. My poor husband is tired of shoveling and carrying bags of stuff. We bought 5 yards of soil, it didnt drain well and I don't think there is much humus in it. Stuff is stalled and not growing well (or growing in one end and not another.) We've added sand and peat to some of the beds. Going to top dress with compost this week in hopes of actually getting cucumbers this year!

I have low spots in my sloping garden that held water like mad this year. It doesn't seem right that a garden that slopes could and would have puddles standing in it for weeks on end.

Sorry to break the bad news about bermuda and Johnson grass loving to grow under and up through bales, but it is the truth.

I hope to plant cucumbers for fall, but am watching to see what the weather does.

They look very tasty.

I planted cucumbers early and got probably 6-8 vines before the heavy rains started so I guess the other seed rotted. Those vines are making cucumbers faster than we can eat them, but of course it isn't enough for pickles. I planted more seed in the empty spots, then a few different kinds of slicing cukes in a new location and they have germinated so I should have cukes into the Fall. We eat them like eating a candy bar. LOL

I never got pickling cucumbers planted in the spring and toyed with the idea of planting them for fall, but then talked myself out of it. I canned enough pickles last year to last us two years, so we have pickles anyway. I am getting so burned out on canning because of the heavy fruit and tomato harvest that the last thing I want to do at this point is to plant anything that might require harvesting and canning somewhere down the line.