I was back in Houston last week to check on the weeds in the garden. Mulching with newspapers and putting hay on top worked great. The only weeds were some nut grass that could probably grow through a thick steel plate. The tomatoes were wild, especially Sweet Chelsea, but still had a few tomatoes. I took down the determinate plants but left Sweet Chelsea. It probably will not produce much in the fall but we will see. The netting I put over the tomatoes and blackberries was a real mess to get out because everything had grown through it. Malabar spinach and okra are producing but the rest is dormant. I thought about planting some corn but decided to wait and put in a later fall garden in early October.
I tried a few things in my little Montana garden in addition to the herbs I always plant. The climate is difficult because it goes from cold to warm fast and quickly back to cold. Also the days are very long in the summer. I tried some Houston winter vegetabes and some spring/early fall crops such as beans. The beans did well but were slow to get going. Turnips did the best of all. The mustard greens and cilantro bolted quickly. Arugula also bolted but I got a decent amount. Bok Choi was so-so; produced a little but obviously too warm for it by July. The Red Sails lettuce was very successful. I am not sure to what extent the problem is temperature and to what extent the lenght of days. Some plants are sensitive to day length and seed out when the days reach a certain amount of daylight hours.
In any event, the Montana garden came to an end when the deer knocked down my mesh fence. I will need to strengthen it next year. I did not expect them to go at so agressively. It is the only time they have really been here; I have been discouraging their hanging around the house with a 410 with bird shot! The tomatoes were doing well before the deer got in. It is touch and go to get tomatoes to ripen before the weather gets cold. Most people here use plants from the garden center for just about everything, rather than seed to get a head start.