Well That Was Anticlimactic

Irene, that is. Not that I am complaining. Being from Charleston, SC, which experienced Hurricane Hugo (though I rode it out in a town safely outside the storm's wrath), I take weather events seriously. We were lucky--about 2 inches of rain in my immediate area and high winds. A tree came down a block away, so it could have been a lot worse. As you can see, there are many large old trees surrounding my lot:We made efforts to secure the black eyed peas, a wobbly tomato trellis, and the hot peppers that are so top-heavy they were already falling over without 50 mph winds. Now I have another reason to make sure I build sturdy trellises next summer.
Everything survived just fine, so it's time to get to the fall planting. First step, make room. I have to decide what can go and what I want to eek every last bit of productivity out of. I pulled a non-producing sweet pepper and the black prince tomato because it looked sickly and the fruit was cracking like crazy. I've got green tomatoes to pickle or fry, or maybe make a gratin.
The lemon cucumbers look to be succumbing to powdery mildew or some kind of bacteria or virus.
It's probably in vain, but I trimmed the worst leaves off in the hopes it can hold out long enough for these cukes to get a little bigger:I killed about eight cucumber beetles yesterday, so there goes my theory that my Dahlias were luring them away. Here is one on a cucumber flower, but I found the large squash blossoms the place to catch them:
At least I now know I can grow non-bitter cucumbers, and next year I'll try row covers and experiment with plants that reputedly repel the beetles. I have their predators, they just have too big of a job!
It's a bit of a jungle, but there is plenty of room to start seeds beneath the cucumbers, peppers, and okra as well among the summer squash, tomatoes, and beans.
It's amazing how much the garden changes from season to season. All of this growth will soon be replaced with low growing greens and root crops.