Frost Forecast

The threat of frost tonight took me out to the vegetable garden to harvest what will not survive a frost. I didn't pull the pepper plants, but did collect everything that was of an edible size. I was pleased to find some snow peas to gather as well for dinner tonight.

Habanero peppers above and
green peppers below.

Snow peas above and cubanelle peppers below.

Return from China

I've been gone for the last two weeks visiting my daughter in China. I'm busy getting photos ready to share on my Shutterfly account but here are a few teasers.

Last Summer Harvest

I took the tomatoes and squash out on Wednesday the 22nd, the last day of summer. So this qualifies as my last summer harvest.

I hope the green tomatoes don't ripen too fast.

All the green peppers went into the freezer halved and then into a bag after that. I ate the very young zucchini with the small eggplant. The other eggplant was devoured two days later.


See other harvests at Daphne's Dandelions.

Garden Helpers

I am so glad I planted marigolds around the tomatoes this year. They worked to keep away the tomato hornworm. Though I did see signs of that pest on my eggplants once I think the birds must have eaten them. The marigolds I planted were very tall and fell over into the pathways. I think I will try a shorter variety next year and hope they work as well.

The other helper is my compost bin. I filled it even fuller than this photo shows when I was done yesterday. In fact the zucchini plants had to be dragged to my perennial garden bin and stuffed in there. I like that I'm making compost that will go right back into my beds.

I found this garden helper as I removed the tomato plants. He was eating something when I first spied him. He was content to sit and watch me remove all the plants around him then hopped off.

This garden pest is being joined by other stink bugs, but the invasive species variety. They are all over my screened porch both inside and out. I think I saw evidence of their damage on some of my tomatoes and peppers. Unfortunately they don't seem bothered by the marigolds and the toad doesn't seem to eat them.