Boo

The only good thing to come from the couple of freezes we have had thus far is the end of the Beast. I cut the shit outta that thing.

Another good thing about this fall/winter season is pomegranate, not grown in my garden for obvious reasons.

The kale has survived through all of the freezes and a couple dustings of snow. We harvested most of it and steamed it down and made kale chips and sesame kale salad, and the rest we froze.

The brussel sprouts are still producing.

Here is a beautiful squash from the garden that we baked and promptly devoured.

Fall Booty

Everything is from my garden! I should have picked some beets and kale as well...

Glide On

Peace Train

...by Yusuf Islam fka Cat Stevens

Now I've been happy lately, 
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, 
something good has begun

Oh I've been smiling lately, 
dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be, 
some day it's going to come

Cause out on the edge of darkness, 
there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, 
come take me home again

Now I've been smiling lately, 
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, 
something good has begun

Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train
Come on now peace train
Yes, peace train holy  roller

Everyone jump upon the peace train
Come on now peace train

Get your bags together, 
go bring your good friends too
Cause it's getting nearer, 
it soon will be with you

Now come and join the living, 
it's not so far from you
And it's getting nearer, 
soon it will all be true

Now I've been crying lately, 
thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating, 
why can't we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness, 
there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, 
come take me home again

*photo by Steve Keefer

Sabotage!

So none of my sunflowers survived to produce any seeds. They've been trampled, chewed on, tore up, and are now dying.

Same with the corn...I don't know what animal(s) got into this garden but it could not have been just squirrels. Some of the corn plants have been flattened to the ground.

The names of some of my favorite plants this summer for future reference:


My transplanted chicks are coming along quite nicely.

I can't get over how beautiful the hibiscus have been...

Here's the purple setcreasea with my icicle plant as a backdrop.

Arugula flowers...

Radish flowers...

Everyone's favorite: The Beast...

Post-Birthday

I've been getting bored with my garden lately. It's not producing anything new and everything that it is producing it has been for months now. I need something new and exciting!

I did learn that eggplants turn yellow if you just leave them on the plant:

Tomato plants still producing, although not a whole lot.

Pretty morning glories all over everything...


The hibiscus are so beautiful, but their blooms only last a day.

Party Time

Thai basil may perhaps be my favorite herb to grow, simply because it is my favorite herb to cook with...

The small white flowers are from the arugula I am letting go to seed.

This big bee was napping, or near death, on a sunflower this morning.

I picked up this annual from the co-op this Spring and I had high hopes for it - the laymen name for it is Partytime, I'm sure because of the bright pink coloring. It did not do very well in the spot I chose. I should have potted it and put it on the back porch so it would get more sun.

Small sunflower growing in the mulch with the hosta...

Lots of Pretty Pictures

So this isn't a very pretty picture, but this is what is leftover in the space where I took out the diseased curcurbits.

This is the area in front of it (towards the house) and it's filled with peppers and herbs and kale.

The pimentos should be harvested...

In the foreground is a long, red cayenne and in the background are some banana peppers that are past their prime.

This is looking from the top down on the brussel sprouts.



As you can see here, The Beast has taken a firm hold on this wind chime...

Dangnabbit

Something is missing from this picture, hmmmm....what could it be?

Let's take a closer look...

THIS is what's missing!

Some animal or bird chewed off the flower heads of my two biggest sunflowers. I was upset, to say the least. I still have a few sunflowers left, though - so that's a positive, right?

How To Ruin A Perfectly Good Vegetable

A) Wrap in bacon
B) Fry it

On the left I did a panko-breaded eggplant topped with either a slice of jalapeño or cherry tomato and then wrapped it in bacon, then I baked it for about 20-30 minutes. Delicious.

On the right Jim did flour- and panko-breaded zucchini and fried it in some olive oil on the stove. He topped it with some garlic salt when they were still hot and then we used some garlic roasted garlic marinara (yes, three times the garlic) and it was so so so good.

Everything that I used, with the exception of the bacon and marinara, was fresh from my backyard - so that makes up for the blatant unhealthiness of it all.

Below is one of my annual pots that I filled with sweet potato vine and a couple different varieties of ornamental grasses. Shown here is my favorite: Spiralis. It reminds me of my hair!

And, finally, our favorite intrusive plant - The Beast.

Rotten Plants & Rotten Guts

At the end of July I noticed powdery mildew, a fungal disease, starting in on the zucchini. I did nothing about it so, obviously, it got worse. One big reason for the disease, I'm sure, was the overcrowding. Another reason for it might have been the cold summer we have had. I went in the curcurbit patch last weekend to clean out some of the worst of the diseased leaves but ended up just pulling out a bunch of the plants because they were rotting at the base of the plant. Below is the rubbish I pulled out - and now I only have a partial-plant of summer squash, butternut squash, and a watermelon that hasn't grown in the last two months.

I had to harvest all my zucchinis when I pulled out the plants, but as you can tell it was time to do so anyway...

I went to the State Fair this past Sunday, and here is one of my favorite seed art portraits:

The largest pumpkin came in at 1186 lbs.

I have no idea the weight on this watermelon, but it is humongous.

Below are the zucchinis I would have been competing against. They are much larger than mine, but if I let mine go at the beginning of the season next year I am sure I will have ones these sizes or larger...



I ate way too much food and am still feeling slightly ill a couple of days later. Here is a complete list of the food I tried: corn dog, cheese curds, fresh cut fries, reuben pretzel, chocolate-filled churro w/caramel sauce, corn on the cob, Big Fat Bacon™ on a stick, pork chop on a stick, turkey leg, Spam dog, chocolate ice cream infused w/raspberry wine, honey ice cream, Sweet Martha's cookies, mini-donuts, Summit EPA, and Morgan Creek's Zeitgeist. Yes, no wonder I am sick.