In this summer of heat waves and drought, gardeners could be forgiven if they threw up their hands, retreated into the air conditioning and emerged this month to find burned tomato plants and dried-out lettuce.
But Northeast Ohio growers are as hardy as their crops. Many kept watering and weeding; some plants thrived in the warmth and gave abundant harvests.
"We didn't have as many major difficulties as we thought we would with the drought," said Noreen Butano, Cleveland district director of Garden Clubs of Ohio, an umbrella group for garden clubs in the state. "It seemed as if the vegetables were just as good, if not better, than last year."
Weather affects how plants grow, how vegetables taste and when insects hatch. But whether a plot gets a breeze, faces south or has poor soil can change yields as much as the weather can. Matt Kleinhenz, extension vegetable specialist with the Ohio Agriculture Research and Development Center in Wooster, shared some general observations.
"We have not had a year like this one in 24 years," Kleinhenz said about the combination of high heat and scant rain that defined summer.
The growing season started with an unusually warm spring that triggered flowers and trees to bloom early. Eager gardeners rushed outside to prepare beds and plant early.
Early spring gave way to a dry and hot late spring and summer. For Cleveland, July's highs averaged 87 degrees with a total rainfall of about 4 inches, according to the National Weather Service. August's average high temperature was 82, with 3 inches of rain.
The heat meant that vegetables that set fruit by flowering, such as peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes, ripened about 10 days sooner than usual, Kleinhenz said. On the other hand, the heat prompted some tomatoes to set fewer blossoms and corn to set fewer kernels, he said.
Warm-season vine crops that tolerate heat well, such as watermelons and squash, were fine. But lettuce and other leafy vegetables might have failed, or tasted bitter or tough, Kleinhenz said.
And there was the human factor. "You have to really enjoy gardening when it's 98 degrees," he said.
Some growers responded to the lack of rain by running sprinklers longer. Others, unwilling or unable to water heavily, took a wait-and-see approach.
Members of the Chippewa Garden Club, based in Brecksville, tend the Squire Rich Herb Garden. They watered heavily in June, but cut back in July and August.
"Things are growing; let's let it be," was the group's philosophy, said Butano, who is a member. "The herbs did fantastic."
The dry conditions allowed spider mites -- enemies to vegetables and roses -- to reproduce faster and stick around, because there was little rain to wash the pests away, said Dan Herms, professor of entomology at the Ohio Agriculture Research and Development Center.
Japanese beetle larvae, another pest, like feeding on lush turf, so their populations were down, he said. Mosquitoes emerged early because water and soil warmed up early, but they died off due to fewer pools and puddles.
Temperatures and rainfall returned to near-normal in August and September, but it was too late to reverse any damage, Kleinhenz said.
Soon the last zucchini will be grated into zucchini bread, and gardeners will wonder what the summer of 2013 will bring. Butano, and doubtless other gardeners, would be happy with a carbon-copy year.
"We would not complain," Butano said. "We would love another one like this year."