An open Saturday

Today was a free day–nothing on the calendar but a list of things to do at home. I awoke with the cows and started early. I had laundry almost done, kitchen cleaned, dogs flea and heartworm treated, and all my email done and it was just 7:15 a.m.! It was pretty amazing. I then tackled the yard–or at least put a dent in it. I haven’t weedeated in weeks, so did that, pulled weeds, and then started on the vegetable garden. I saw that I had been visited by another hornworm, so I went looking and found two.

They were both huge, but one was on its way to molting into its next phase. I was hoping to save the tiny tomatoes for a fall harvest, but I decided to cut my losses and pulled the plants from one bed. I salvaged a bunch of green cherry tomatoes and will try fried green poppers tomorrow. I then pruned the remaining tomatoes and cleaned up. My arms were itching like crazy after carrying all the refuse to the yard pick up, so I went in and washed my arms, and the itching stopped instantly. I also pulled the watermelon vines–I got 6 melons out of this planting and it was still blooming and setting fruit, but I needed the space. We ate the watermelon tonight–I made watermelon feta salad! Tasty. I also potted up the lemon grass. It was taking up a lot of space in the garden, and it is not winter hardy, so I potted it. If you need any, let me know–or tell me what you do with it. I have lots.
I then planted three varieties of garlic today along with my French shallots. I planted some extra cloves around the broccoli and bok choy plants, since my broccoli is getting attacked by something, and I am hoping the garlic smell will keep them at bay. Speaking of garlic, I used the weedeater to chop back 2/3 of the garlic chives. Most have finished blooming and were trying to set seeds. My side yard and garage reek of garlic–so no vampires here tonight! I also planted bok choy, a mesclun mix,

two varieties of kale and some ornamental kale and mums. I am still getting a ton of peppers, and a few red okra daily.
I am starting to gear up for Halloween and fall and will add to this as the days go by.

The pot plants on the deck are doing well. My seedling reblooming Weigela I brought back from Garden Writers last fall is blooming nicely in a pot.

The tropical jatropha I bought in Texas has not stopped for a minute.

Then tonight, I had a friend over for dinner and it is the beginning of clean out the refrigerator before I leave routine. Clay will not cook much while I am gone. We had sous vided pork chops and gnocchi with a cream mustard sauce, sautéed mushrooms over steamed asparagus and then I made more apple (pear) roses. I have a lot of pears and two apples, and an extra sheet of puff pastry, so why not? I added a few drops of red food coloring to the water that I was cooking my apples and pears in and it turned them a lovely pink. They stayed that way after cooking. You could make them any color. Everyone was quite impressed at dinner!

A great day. I am almost packed and ready. Watering will continue unless we get rain–my fingers are crossed.