"for cryin' out loud"

Due to lousy weather and having to work these past few days, I have not been poking around my garden. Imagine my surprise, today, when I found these plants still blooming.

Will they be the last?

A small posy of flowers still 'hanging in there' from my garden. I just know the first frost of the season will be here any time soon, and kill off the few flowers still blooming. So why not pick them and enjoy them.

Jack Frost hasn't been here yet

Some places in the garden are looking very forlorn and bedraggled, while in other areas there is still color.

The volunteer Nicotiana is still flourishing.

And there are still blooms on several of the geraniums. This weekend I must pull these plants to make them ready for over wintering.

I am still able to pick small bunches of sweet peas.

I suppose I should make the effort to pick the last of the tomatoes and make chutney. Perhaps this weekend I will feel like getting the job done as I really hate to see these beauties go to waste.

Two of the largest gourds are going to remain where they are until spring.

Scarlet runner beans drying on the vines for seed to be planted next growing season.

Don't you just love the hardy Nasturtiums? They just keep on producing pretty flowers.

Plants need friends too

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

Wet Wordless Wednesday

It's creeping up

The mornings are crisp, but not breath stealing cold yet. Trees, and plants are glowing in their fall colors making for beautiful landscapes all along the roads I drive to work.

Holly, and other assorted berry bearing trees and shrubs, have and still are changing into their winter colors. I love to pick and decorate our home with holly during the holiday season.

Yesterday, I spent time in the veggie garden, digging in compost and manure, pulling a few weeds and some of the straggly vegetables, which I knew would not produce much now. The rabbits sure enjoyed the castoff veggies as they were tossed over the fence. No wonder I have semi-tame rabbits hanging around the vegetable garden. *grin*
I have almost finished my fall cleanup of the gardens before the first frost creeps up. I feel one coming on any time now. The thermometer read 37 degrees this morning.

Cuttings for next Spring

The makeshift mini green house provides humidity for about 36 cutting of various plants from the garden. The mini greenhouse is downstairs in our daylight basement, which stays at just the right temperature, and provides plenty of bright light for producing nice healthy plants.

There are, coleus, fuchsia, hibiscus, geraniums, a ground cover, lilac, forsythia, and a few others I can't remember right now.
When taking cuttings, I always dip the ends in rooting hormone before planting them. I seem to have a greater success rate of the cuttings taking using this method. Once the cuttings are growing and are starting to fill the pots, they are then transplanted to the next larger size pot.

Harvest Monday

I almost missed Harvest Monday, oh!well better late than never.

This afternoon I dug up the Russian Fingerling potatoes. They look more like arthritic fingers and one crooked elbow *chuckle* But they sure did taste good, roasted with a few onions, beets and carrots all from the garden.
I did have some green beans sitting on the stove in a saucepan, all ready to cook, but was distracted when a friend stopped by and the roasted veggies were done before I realized I had not cooked the beans. No worries, we will eat them tomorrow.

Go on over to Daphne's Dandelions and check out her harvest, and while you are there you can link to other folk's harvests.

Little works of art

Mother nature blessed us with rainbow colors throughout the summer months, and has left us with lovely little pieces of garden art for the fall.






"October is nature's funeral month. Nature glories in death more than in life. The month of departure is more beautiful than the month of coming - October than May. Every green thing loves to die in bright colors."
- Henry Ward Beecher