My garden is producing a bumper crop of golden collared tomatoes. Since the tomatoes I planted were supposed to be red I was a bit puzzled by the small patch of yellow-green circling the stem of each ripe fruit.

My investigation found that this condition has baffled the university researchers for more than 30 years. It is believed to occur when a number of factors converge in the garden.

These factors include environmental, when the temperatures exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit, nutrition, cultivar and virus. The nutrition part centers on the lack of K or potassium in the presence of high magnesium, which reduces the uptake of calcium in the fruit. If you need to reread that last sentence go ahead.

The best solution is to get a soil test and follow its recommendations. That could suggest adding potassium and letting the ph fall a bit. The condition does not hurt anything except the appearance of the fruit, so for now I'll waste a yellow sliver of tomato as I make my Dagwood sandwiches.

Another challenge in the vegetable garden at this time of the year is the vine crops. To be successful you must keep the vines happy. Your challenges here are both insects and fungus. There is a vine bore as well as mildew to do in our plants. The coming fall temperatures also contribute to vine decline. Anything under 60 degrees usually spells trouble.

I have resigned myself to savor the last cantaloupe from my garden in the next several days. The vines are beginning to go, which suggests that the flavor will be challenged in any future fruits if there are any.

The perfect Halloween pumpkin in your garden may need some management right now, too. My guess is that your prize is starting to show some orange and the vine is in decline.

Left in the garden for more than several weeks risks sun and insect damage, which may force you to celebrate Halloween before everyone else or mandate a trip to the pumpkin store.

Once the pumpkin is showing a trace of color it can be harvested and will ripen very well with daytime temperatures over seventy and nighttime temperatures above sixty. Field temperatures below fifty degrees will contribute to quality and storageability.

Winter squash would fall in there with about the same recommendations. I might add with the squash or pumpkins, handling is a storage concern. Bruising will reduce the chance of successful storage for winter use.

I almost forgot to think of the obvious. Removal of the stem on pumpkins or squash will shorten their lifespan.

We are approaching the time when our vegetable gardens start their slow decline. I wish somebody would tell my first planting of string beans that. On second thought, don't, I like string beans.