Veggie Gardens Update

Tina and Skeeter, from In the Garden post vegetable garden updates on the 20th of the month, and invite others to join them by posting a link on their site and a link to their site so you can find all of the updates.

Last Sunday, I tripped on Heidi's front leash while holding our 21 month old grandson. My right foot got caught up in it, and we went down, landing hard on my left knee. I set grandson down as gently as I could, to my side, so I wouldn't land on him, but he bounced off his side, and hit the grass with his face. Larry thought it was more his chin. He said he had grass in his mouth. I ended up on my side, and it took me awhile to be able to get up. We both would have been much worse off if we landed on cement, which we were a couple feet from. I am on my feet a lot at work, but was able to put my leg up some during the days. I have not been in the gardens much this week, because I have felt the need to stay off of my knee as much as I can. I have taken photos and picked a few things, but am behind in some harvesting and lots of weeding and deadheading.

The first photo is of my harvest on the 15th. Some was from home, and some from across the street.

This is about a third of the onion crop, which is ready to go to the basement when I get to them. I plan to chop more for the freezer, too.

I forgot to take pictures before church, when the lighting would have been better. This is a view from the street side of the garden.

This view is from the area about 8 feet from the back of the garden, facing the front.

A closer view in the front part of the garden, showing a huge moonflower plant that I am behind in deadheading, Mr. Stripey tomatoes, which have tipped with their cage, marigolds, and Tuscan kale.

I'm still not sure when I'm going to get the Kung Pao and other hot peppers picked and whether I'll get them dried or frozen. They may be starting to dry on the plants.

The bush and other cucumbers are starting to get diseased and die, but still have a few cucumbers for us to enjoy.

Grandson enjoyed picking grape tomatoes with me twice, and now when I ask him if he wants to, he says, "No." I guess we'll be sure to have more plants next year! I do hope to get out there later today to get some harvesting done.

I have some lettuce coming up for a fall crop. Soon, I'll be eating the thinnings.

I've mentioned looking at my stat counter to see what kinds of things people have Googled and ended up on my blog. Radish seedlings is one of them, so if anyone out there doesn't know what they look like, here are a few. (There is a tiny one below the one on the left.)

I keep forgetting to pick the few beets I planted in July. I hope they are still good.

I left some lettuce in hopes the rabbits would continue to munch on it, and some have gone to seed. This one is next to the early spring planted kale, which I've picked all summer.

This is a burpless cucumber whose mother plant is dying. This one is on the lattice fence in front of the garden entry.

I decided to keep my updating in one post, so headed across the street to my other veggie garden, which is nicely hidden by all the tall flowers.

Well, you almost can't tell there are veggies over there, except for the Rutgers tomatoes that were teeny tiny when I planted them, after starting them in the house.

I'm glad the birds or whatever the critters were that are munching on the tomatoes have slowed way down, so that some of the tomatoes can ripen before being picked.

The lilac peppers are ripening small, only 1 or 2 at a time.

These peppers are ripening on the small side, too.

There are a few hills of potatoes needing to be dug. The zucchini in the back to the right of the bucket only produced a few zucchinis before it and the bush cucumers and yellow summer squash got what I'm thinking is powdery mildew. The brush pile for shelter for the butterflies is to the rear, between a couple trees. There is a 3 foot wide area behind the pile, where I recently planted some strawberry plants a friend gave me from her garden.

I planted lettuce here, too.

These bush cucumbers were planted a few weeks later than the first ones, but it also has powdery mildew.

This is a row of acorn squash which has 3 or 4 squashes on it. I wonder if they will ripen without spoiling, as they have the powdery mildew so bad. I later read that if plants don't get enough sun, they are more susceptible to it.

Something has taken a bite out of this one. I'll have to keep an eye on it. I keep forgetting to research how to tell when they are ripe.

Some peppers, and several different varieties of tomatoes here, including a Better Boy and a Beefsteak, were falling all over, too, so I tied them all to each others' stakes. One best not try to navigate the garden in the dark, or they may run into string.

This view is facing a neighbor's house, showing the tied up tomatoes and peppers. My new trellis chair is in the background. I haven't figured out where it will end up in the garden.

I don't remember whether these peppers are hot or not. I'll have to find out and chop some up for the freezer.

Here's one more long view while getting ready to leave the garden. It's really not pretty right now. I wonder if I should be getting the infected plants out now, instead of letting them finish producing. Oh, I forgot to mention that the yellow summer squash in the left side of the photo, have sprawled all over as if they thought they were a winter squash, and have produced lots over a number of weeks. There are some nice small ones on there now, almost ready to pick.

I wanted to keep the photo of the herb garden far enough out from the Orange Oxeheart tomatoes so the grossness of the spoilage from insect or bird damage does not show too much. I think cleaning up that mess should be my priority today. The morning glories are blooming by the rain barrel I see.

I am starting to accept the fact that it will soon be fall. I hope my knee heals soon so I can be out there enjoying the gardening. In the meantime, I have been sitting outside as much as I can with my computer. I hope you are enjoying the fall, and your weather isn't too rainy or dry.

Insects for Camera Critters

I started in the back yard yesterday, looking for critters to photograph. It didn't take long, as the goldenrods always are abuzz with activity. This may be Wichita Falls. I think the bee on the left is a honey bee, but I'm not sure.

(Note: Cameron told me she found some 'Wichita Mountains', which caused me to look to see what I called it. I Googled images of the 'Wichita Falls' that I had called it to see if I had it right. Well, there were some photos, so I wondered if Cameron had gotten something else, until I noticed the photos were from my blog. LOL I guess that shows that if you find something on Google, you may want to check more than one source to make sure the information is correct. I wonder if I can fix it so the right name comes up now. At least I got part of the name right, so someone can still find the plant if they are looking for it. Oh, dear!)

Solidago, 'Wichita Mountains':

There are lots of insects, mostly bees in the asters, too.

I don't know my spiders, either, but I'm glad to see them in the garden.

In the vegetable garden, there are lots of tall verbena plants that draw many butterflies and bees in. This is a skipper of some kind.

I used to call these American Painted Ladies, but someone posted some American Ladies, which caused me to look them up. The American Ladies have only 2 eyespots on the back wings. What I have here is a Painted Lady, which has 4 smaller eyespots. I like the way this one is posing.

If you know what this is, on the asters in the bed to the east of the house, please let me know.

I think this is a bumblebee.

I haven't noticed this kind of wasp that I can recall. Wasps seem to love white flowers.

I saw an insect like this outside at an outdoor fun day where I work, and a teacher who knows the names of insects was out. He told me they are grasshoppers. This one is on a Sweet Annie seedhead.

I only see one bee at a time on the dahlias, it seems.

I had gone back to the veggie garden area to see if my sweet potato plant was still blooming. It was not, but I noticed this hairstreak, I believe a gray one was enjoying the boltonia.

To see more critters or find out how to post yours, click on the Camera Critters icon in the sidebar. If you know the names of any of my critters, please let me know.

Blooms From Today for Blooming Friday

Lately I've been looking to see what kind of theme Katarina, of Roses and Stuff has for the week's Blooming Friday, but forgot to until I had a bunch of photos uploaded to my blog. Since she wanted to know who the leading ladies are, and who are the supporting characters, I went back and found some photos I'd started to leave out because I've posted them so many times already.

The cleomes and Mexican sunflowers are very much stars of the gardens this year.

With a name like Debonair, I have to include these mums.

Of course the zinnias and Menard's dahlias continue to show off for whoever drives by, supported strongly by coneflowers and Paprika and other varieties of yarrow.

The rest of the photos were taken today. I'd have to say the sweet autumn clematis are very showy right now.

The asters are a demanding presence now. What a difference a few days make, as they weren't as full when photos were taken on the 12th for GBBD. The coneflower doesn't seem to mind playing a supporting role, as when it was younger, it had its moment to shine.

The oxalis doesn't mind hiding out on the lower shelf of a plant stand, next to a watering can.

Now, the Boltonia ('Snowbank?) and Eupatorium 'Prairie Jewel' growing next to coleus 'Schizophrenia' in a pot are vying for the starring role in the area in front of the veggie garden.

In the veggie garden and other beds around the yard, the Verbena bonariensis plants play a very important role in filling in spaces and feeding a variety of butterflies and bees.

I think these are black eyed Susans. They just pop up wherever and take up as many spots as they can, but when pulled, are good about not coming back.

Asters, Rudbeckia 'Herbstonne', and heleniums are stars because of their sizes and number of blooms.

I'm not sure what this is popping up in the amsonia plant.

I grow cardinal climbers most every year. The leaf on the lower left belongs to this plant.

The cypress vines seed themselves, so I grow them, every season too. The flowers are a little smaller and more star shaped then those on the cardinal climbers. There had been a few blooms here and there, but both are having more and more blooms on them.

The 'Fireworks' goldenrods have lead roles this time of year, and the insects love them, too. The lantana here plays a nice supporting role.

The Black Knight butterfly bush is a beauty, but this is its first year, so is happy to be a "figurant" as Katarina worded it. (That's ginger mint behind it.)

This is a salvia that came from a spent stem laid down in the bed last fall.

The gazanias don't have blooms every day, but when they do, I sure enjoy them.