Friday, September 22, 2023

It's fall! (even though it still feels like summer)



It may be late September but it's as hot as July in this neck of the woods.
I'm not complaining, it will probably be snowing in a few weeks!





Our summer was hot and dry, not a great combo for any living things. So it was a pleasant surprise when all these Black Eyed Susans just popped up unexpectedly. Many years ago, they showed up in my garden and I have no idea how they got here. Not being the kind of person who snubs their nose at free flowers (weeds included), I encouraged them stay. Needless to say, they flourished and thanks to my laziness last spring, are now completely out of hand. Obviously, leaving Mother Nature unsupervised  has consequences but in this instance, they're not so bad.





Back in the raised beds, the veggies definitely didn't do too well, except for the herbs. To be honest, the "lawn" always looks that bad, drought or no drought.





Even if things didn't quite live up to expectations, The Skeleton Crew is still looking forward to whatever fall produces. Now, it's time to plant some hardy pansies for next spring.





Since the tomatoes will be over soon, Ivy decided to plant the pansies nearby.





It wasn't a good year for tomatoes either but the Cabbage butterflies seemed to like them a lot.





It's not quite as big a surprise as the Black Eyed Susans, but one of our many green tomatoes has finally turned red.





It may look a little weird but at least it's ripe.





There's even a second, sort of ripe one. Cherry tomatoes count, don't they?





As for the pumpkins, well they grew one really, really long vine. It stretches from Burt, past Kib and all the way to Ivy, about 35 feet!





Naturally, in keeping with this year's theme of garden mishaps, this is the only pumpkin on that vine.
It has a long way to go before Halloween.





Oh well, there's always next year. Let's hope Burt doesn't forget to water those pansies.


Happy Autumnal Equinox, hope everyone has a great weekend.
Thanks for stopping by!