Fall is Here

It seemed like a long, hot summer! Not much to post, because I've barely had the energy to get off the couch to work in my beautiful flower gardens. It's been for a good reason, though, as noted in the ticker to the right that shows the latest size of fruit I'm growing!

The summer heat finally really broke a few days ago. I came out of work in the evening and noticed it was actually a little cool out. That night it frosted in some areas of Iowa, but it seems to have spared our backyard, and the weather has been Fallish since.

Although I haven't had much of an appetite for vegetables, I've been happy to have homegrown produce on hand when I've really wanted it, like tonight for Mike's homemade potato soup. Used up all the carrots in the pot pie last week? Of course not, just go pull some more out of the ground! And they taste way better than the grocery store ones, too!

Mike also was able to go to the Seed Savers Annual Tomato Taste Testing this year, where visitors vote on the best tasting tomato of the year. He does a great job saving seeds from his favorites each summer, but he always has so many new varieties that he wants to try that I think he'll keep buying just as many new seeds every year!

He was also super excited to find out that he is officially growing the hottest pepper in the world. The most recent testing found the Trinidad Scorpion hot pepper to be the hottest there is, and he is so proud to have some of those growing in our own little planter.

I have a few ideas for my decorative gardens this Fall- spruce up the shade garden (most things have died due to lack of water-- the house protects it too well from rain!), move some ratty looking hostas bordering the patio and put something more interesting in (more hostas? mums?), and move some perennials that look like they belong elsewhere before the weather gets cold. And, post a few pictures to this blog sometime so you can see what's up in the garden!

Hopefully you're enjoying a nice harvest from your own backyard or your favorite farmer's market. I'm already looking forward to planning the next garden for Spring!

The Big Harvest Begins

Well, Mike is sure starting to see the fruits of his labor. Here are some pictures of what he's pulling form the garden lately. And since he loves to try all these strange different heirloom tomatoes, I thought I'd give you a view inside our kitchen to see him talk about all his exciting different varieties himself!

Thus far we don't really have enough of a surplus crop to start hiding unwanted zucchinis in friends' unlocked cars, but we'll see. One of these seasons, we most definitely will!

the tomatoes


Chinese red noodle beans
like green beans but purple and longer

Clockwise from top: Chinese red noodle beans,
yellow cucumber, yellow tomato, another tomato, beet

As above with a long sweet pepper added in

carrots and tomatoes

Other exciting goings-on in our garden and kitchen: basil drying in the food dehydrator, garlic drying on the shelf, fava beans (still on the bush, of course) drying on the kitchen table. The potted basil is wilting because we don't water it (I think we're due for a storm soon), the chocolate mint came back after becoming all crispy during a mini-drought on the deck. A zucchini has grown across the garden gate, preventing our entrance from one side, and the strawberries are still trying to give us a berry or two. All in all, I'd say it's turning out to be a successful gardening season!