September 22, 2017
Well the frost was on the pumpkin this morning. It seems early, but with 70ðdays in the extended forecast, maybe I'll get my Indian Summer after all. I don't actually have any pumpkin again this year. I've been planting Ferry Morse Mini Harvest Pumpkin Blend and getting giant zucchini. They either have a prankster at the packaging plant or someone mixed up the bins. It's been ok though because the salsa lady takes them and brings back zucchini bread. I've still got half a pack of seeds but I guess I should buy new pumpkin seeds..
The frost didn't burn anything but it motivated me to clean up the mounds where the melon were. It was fun. An old gardening friend once said he "got to clean up an area in the garden" and I thought it was an interesting turn of expression. It stuck with me though because us gardeners like making things neat again. Fall c!ean up can be rewarding if you don't think about how long those mounds will be empty..
September 23, 2017
The Asters are starting to flower and the honeybees are ecstatic about it. The bush is alive with them and they are busy and humming. The Asters are the last of the garden show offs and they continue their blossoming through November when everything else has finished. One of my garden sitting spots is close to them and I get to watch the hub bub in the gray winter days. The solitary bees, H bees, teracnid wasps, bumblebees and assorted flies join in the flurrie because the only flowers left for them are on the Asters..
The Jasmine nicotiana flowers are off limits to them because they are long trumpet shaped and require special pollinators. The plant opens the flowers in the evening and sends out a sweet pleasant fragrance to attract hummingbirds and big moths. It takes a long probiscus to pollinate them..
September 24, 2017
The sun is setting behind a mountain to our west at 6:00 now reducing my after dinner gardening time. I haven't been getting much done then anyway because the cats also trickle down to the garden after dinner. They seem to enjoy my company. I prefer to sit for awhile on a full stomach and they play run, jump and tackle in front of my chair. They also show me what great hunters they are by pouncing on all the grasshoppers, crickets, flies and imaginary prey. About the time they wander off I'm ready to take a garden tour..
I get more done in the summer after dinner because it's cooler. In the Fall I get more done in the morning because it's cooler. Soon it will be too dark for after dinner outside activities so I'll spend more time on the internet. I don't know if that's a good thing..
