Fall is showing itself in my garden...

Not too much of a harvest today. I got a couple more cucumbers before ripping the dead vines off the trellis. They were a surpise, I didn't even notice them till the dead vines were on the ground. A few tomatoes, but the constant rain has done their number on them and I picked as many good ones as I had bad ones that had to be tossed. Some of these are still quite a bit green, but fell off when I was fumbling through the plants.

I brought in the other two tiny watermelon as well. I am not sure they will be as good as the first one, if ripe at all.

Cut a bunch of Oregano to dry and save. This is the first time I have cut off of the plant, and the first time I have grown Oregano.

This is only my second pepper off of  my bell plants. Hope it is better than the first. The kiddos did not like it at all, and it just didn't look right. And something has been digging around my carrots so I pulled this one out. It is a bit small, but maybe it will taste alright. First time growing carrots too!

In the picture above and below I have some more seeds to save. The ones above are a red Nasturtium, the ones below are 'Bonfire Salvia'. They were quite a bit taller than I expected (see Seriously need to read the heights on my plant seeds), but I do like them! I might try to plant them behind my red and white Impatients in the spring.

I am happy to say that my one little pumpkin did appear to ripen the rest of the way on the counter...at least, all the green is gone and it looks like a nice little pumpkin.

I am not sure there will be much more to write about my garden this year, as most of it is dwindling away. There are still plenty of tomatoes out their. A cabbage, some beans, peppers, and carrots finishing up. But the cold weather seems to be on its way, and fall clean up is right behind it.

I have been working on a new plan for the spring so maybe I will be able to share it when I feel it is complete...though somehow I never feel like something like that is every really complete. Who knows how many times it will change before it is actually planted and if it will all come together the way I plan. It never really does, does it?!

My new little one will be here 4 weeks from today...I am counting down the days!

Bringing in Basil cuttings

After seeing Daves post on sustaining fresh basil through the winter I decided to try it on my own and see how it goes. So far so good. First I started by taking a few cuttings from my plants outside. I washed them up, removed the lower leaves, and put them in a glass of water. It took about a week for mine to get these roots, and this one is the best one out of about 5 or 6. This is Spicy Globe Basil. I don't know if others root faster or not.

Doesn't he look pretty?

Now I don't get a lot of light since the sun goes over my house from the NW corner of my house to the SE corner of my house, but maybe when the leaves fall from the trees I might get enough. Or I can take them and put them under the grow lights. We'll just have to see how it goes!

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No, you are not looking at giant tomatoes! These are TINY MELONS!!! I think that after the squash bugs and cucumber beetles did their number on all my squash and pumpkins and cucumbers, they went to work on my Ambrosia melons and watermelons!

The vines are dead, and these melons just fell off. There are two more of each out there but the vines are dead and one of the Ambrosia melons appears to be rotting on the bottom. So I don't have any hope for any of them!

I think they are about the size of a baseball and softball! I'll have to cut them open today and see what I find! I am kind of doubting there will be anything edible!

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I was so excited to see a RED serrano on the plant until I picked it and saw that something else has been enjoying it before me!

But their are a few more begining to turn red out there and should be ready soon!

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In other gardening news...I am afraid pregnancy has given me a black thumb! LOL!

All the pretty flowers I got this summer appear to be dead! Monarda Pink Lace, Limerock Ruby Coreopsis,  and a couple of others. We are gonna try to put them in the ground anyways and see if anything comes back, whether it is this year or next. I will have to look for new ones next year if they don't come back. And I will be sure to get them planted right away!

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Edited to add:

The melons were not bad after all! The Ambrosia was good, smelled good, and my daughter ate it. The water melon was not real sweet but still tasted fine and my son ate it! Not too bad for a couple of TINY melons!

Homemade Fresh Salsa!

This is my harvest so far this week. The tomatoes are coming in...several a day!

I went ahead and picked some Serrano's even though they look small and are not red yet cause I wanted to use these tomatoes!

Mmmm. Fresh salsa! Hopefully the peppers have some heat even though we have had a lot of rain! If not I will have to go to the store and get some to add to it.

Recipe:

(as stated before I am not one for measuring...)

a big bunch of tomatoes (if I am buying at the store I usually start with 4-6 lbs)

1 bunch of cilantro

1 bunch green onions

1 med yellow onion

4, 5, 6 cloves garlic, depending on how much you like garlic! We like lots!

lime juice (maybe about a tbs or 2)

6-7 decent size Serrano peppers (better if they are red, but green is OK too) Throw the whole thing in seeds and all if you like it hot.

salt to taste

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Ug, these things are just everywhere out there since I have not been out there much. I caught one batch in the middle of hatching and did not have my camera. It was quite the sight, a whole bunch of the little buggers!

Here is one by himself, but there are several. Not sure what to do as I don't have the energy to chase them all down and kill them. (by the way these are baby squash bugs)

My pumpkin (on the neighbors side of the fence) is growing. It is probably about the size of a small basketball now. These are the sugar pumpkins so they won't get real big any way. Still no sign of a pollinated giant pumpkin, even though I have seen some pea sized ones, they must not be getting pollinated. Not much time left... ***sad face here***guess we'll have to take the kids to the farm for pickin! That is always fun too!

Washed out and neglected...and survivors!

Overall, Louisville has had about 5 inches of rain in the past few days, but our specific area has had more than 8 inches in very heavy spurts...and sadly it has washed away some of our hard work in the garden! What a mess! But it is fixable, at least maybe by next season.

We really should have gotten some good edging in before a big rain like this...but time was lacking! We had some 4x4's around to try to keep it all in but it just didn't work! Live and learn! We'll do better next time! That's what we get planting the garden right where the water runs from the front yard to the back, but it is the sunniest location! We just need to get it all ironed out! And who knew we would have such a cool rainy season!

This is a pile of tomatoes, serrano peppers and marigolds practically all smashed to the ground together!

The smallest and an unlikely survivor out of the tomatoes practically flattened.

The bugs are taking their toll on the cucumbers.

Catface is still hanging on, getting huge and not a hint of red yet!

I am looking forward to all these tomatoes turning red...but they sure are taking their sweet time!

Babies! The new pumpkins the kids planted. I guess the rain was good for them!


Even though the bottom of the cucumber plants look a little rough, overall, the whole cucumber and watermelon trellis is looking pretty full!

Sugar pumpkin still hanging on, need to shoot it up with some BT again cause it looks like more SVB frass is coming out of it. But it is looking much longer after the rain and growing like crazy...just needs some pumpkins on it!!!!

These two tomato cages are about to fall over they are so heavy and rain drenched.

We have a lot of clean up to do if it gets dry enough this weekend to work out there. Right now it is SO water logged!

Pg anemia has hit and I am glad to know, so maybe after some iron I will have some energy to get out in the garden again...assuming we don't keep getting rained out! How nice it will be to give my garden the attention it needs!

Attracting bees....

We seriously need some pollination going on in the garden!! So I picked out 2 flowering plants at the grocery that looked like they were attracting the most bees! The pink one is Monarda 'Pink Lace' Bergamot. The tall one is Liatris spicata 'Blazing Star'. Hopefully these will help attract some more bees to my garden so I can have more harvest!!!

I do have 3 watermelon. The vines are so intertwined I can't tell which are icebox and which are Farmers Wonderful!

My cat faced Prudens purple is getting very big, but not red!

My first bells! Kaleidoscope.

This Beef Steak tomato plant is just so huge, almost all of that is one tomato plant! I have never had a tomato plant that big. I don't know if this is normal for beef steak, since I think this is the first time I have grown this variety. And you can't see it but it does have a cage!!! The visible cage is to a much smaller and compact tomato plant.

First baby serrano!!!! And there are more blooms too!

First Honey Bear Acorn Squash!

Broccoli doing OK despite the stinkin loopers! Can't say the same for the cabbage. Cauli is ok, but no head yet. I did try a home remedy from a poster on GW, the flour and Cayenne pepper, it does seem to be helping, even after rain. I did put out some more thought! We'll see how it does!

****Sad face****

Powdery mildew seems to be hitting many of my squash plants. Need to try a remedy on them too!

My first orange cosmo beginning to bloom! These were a freebie in the mail and a year old seeds! But I have a bunch and they sure are healthy looking!

Vegetable Garden in Progress

We have been working in the garden today, even though the kids and I have been sick. I just got it last night, they are getting over it.

Last fall we transplanted some hostas from the back yard to around the front tree. Some did not make it so I transplanted some more, that would be the smaller ones. Hopefully they will catch up with a little care and fertilizer.

We finally put some compost down on the side bed. Now it just needs and edge.

The pumpkins, melons, and flowers are doing well, as long as the cats and bunnies stay away. One has been nibbled on already.

On the left is one seeded and one seedless watermelon and Lemon and American Slicing Cucumbers. In the back is tomato and oregano, I trimmed the oregano down. Hope that helps it along. In the middle I have some cilantro and habanero peppers. And a Serrano pepper on the right side.

Here I have bell peppers in the middle. Cabbage in the left bottom corner. And some Acorn seedling just starting to come up in the right bottom corner.

Tomato, Broccoli, cabbage, catnip, and another Acorn seedling. There is some more tomato and Serrano pepper behind the big tomato plant.

This was the first bed started with tomato, beans, lettuce, chard, spicy bush basil, and I just added some summer squash to the left. It all appears to be doing well even though most of it was late getting going.

An overall view. Still haven't got the paths in yet. Maybe when we don't have so much other work to do in the yard. It isn't a top priority as long as the garden is growing!