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| My first basket |
Well almost time to wrap up another summer. Two weeks from today I will be back in FL. But there is much to do before then. Has been a busy few weeks. Still getting my tennis in with a great group of men and women on Thursday nights. I will miss them when I leave.
Took a basket weaving class and now have great plans (in my mind anyway). Have already used this for bread at dinner with my in-laws. Still trying out new recipes and they got to try the potato-yellow squash torte (was a big hit) and the watermelon-tomato-mozzarella salad along with an older recipe for peaches and cream (dessert- thank you Dorothy). Have a lot of yellow squash still, so will make the torte again when John is here and probably take a lot of those home. Been "spiralizing" lots of squash this summer!
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| Hydarngea |
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| Anemone |
Flowers get sparser and sparser as August ends. But the fall anemones are always spectacular and I have one hydrangea (or at least I think that is what it is) bush that bloom in August and is also very pretty.
Still have a larkspur growing in the shade of the butterfly bush and one that just showed up among the not-yet-blooming wood asters in the garden by the cold-cellar. And the rose near there is again showing a few blooms.
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| Larkspur |
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| Butterfly bush |
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| Rosebud |
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| Dollar plant seedpod |
The dollar plants on the back wall of the house and down by the garage are setting their seedpods; always an interesting sight and why they are called dollar plants (sometime, silver dollar plants, though mine are more brown than silver)!
The Hostas outside the dining room continue to bloom and are pretty sight from the table. Grapes are starting to ripen. One of the vines that had a lot of grapes on it, and which hands to the ground has only stems as birds or other critters have eaten all the grapes from them. They don't seem to want to wait until fully ripe.. so we'll see how many I get this year; there are not as many out there as last year so we will see.
And my one zinnia plant continues to expand and put out beautiful flowers. Am hoping this one is a prolific self seeder! Yes, most of the little plants around it are weeds.... sigh! Though fewer weeds around the zinnia than any other place in all the plantings around the yard!
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| Hostas |
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| Grapes |
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Zinnia continue to expand
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Busy with end of summer canning (and veggie eating of course) and have canned many tomatoes, salsa, relishes, some pickles, some applesauce and some asian pears (thanks to friends of Luci's who supplied her with more than she could use). I am planning more pickles today as the cucumbers
finally seem to be taking off. I've frozen yellow & green beans and yellow squash. Made a little zucchini bread - though the zucchini plants got diseased and I had to pull them out. I have many butternut squash and a few delicata squash ready to pick but will take most of those home and deal with them there. I have more carrots and bunching onions still growing and also swiss chard so will take some of each of those home too. Picked one small cabbage last night and made cole slaw. They are all small as they also got started so late due to being eaten on early this spring. Will also have some beets to take home - not enough to can so leaving them in the ground until I leave too. I've only eaten one! Nelson doesn't like them. They freeze well but I have no more room here. The peppers are just starting to produce too but not expecting to get anywhere near the number I got last year. Butch and Luci brought me some yellow peppers (not sure what kinds, mild but not shaped like sweet green peppers; will use some for some salsa I am going to make today too. They have also brought me many tomatoes as they are overflowing with them. I have some, but few as big or as yummy as theirs. Cathy and Doug are also gone for three week vacation and told me to go pick from their garden, so have gotten a few tomatoes, one zucchini (now oatmeal zucchini cookies) and some peppers and some dill that I dried for use over the winter. Picking her yellow squash but just so it keeps producing and she will have some.. I put some of here and some of mine out on the street with a for free sign, no sure if anyone took yet!
My last planting of green beans is just now flowering and the limas have pods but takes a few weeks for the bean to fill them out, so probably am not going to get much if any of either before I leave, but that's the way it goes this year. We got very little corn, something (deer or racoon) got in there and ate a bunch before it was ready.. We've gotten a couple dozen ears but they have been pretty small. Nelson is still eating them though. There are a few more out on the plants that aren't mature yet, so maybe he'll get a few more. Butch's were very full and he shared some with us - they were really good! Thinking next year, I'll just help butch week his garden and give up on our! Though we've have done better with squash and cucumbers than he did this year, so maybe not!
Well lots to do and Max wants a walk so time to get this morning in gear! John and Barb will be here in 7 days, and lots to do so I don't have to do much when they are here.
