Frost most mornings now. I've been doing yard work several days a week. Yesterday it was leaf raking, the day before tomato and bean cleanup. I pulled the hoses, but may reattach one to water a few things if it stays this dry - mostly the roses. And I still need to do a little mowing, but there's no hurry now.
Cold weather the last week, frost almost every morning, including one with a dawn low of 19 F. I'm doing a little yard cleanup most days. The ash trees have dropped all their leaves, and the hackberries aren't far behind. Tomorrow is Halloween / Samhain / Calen Gaeaf - pumpkin carving day, which will make the squirrels happy.
The
garden is finished for the season - two hard frosts and one lighter one
in the last week. The ash trees are nearly naked now, but the elms are
still stubbornly green. I haven't done much yard cleanup yet, as it's
been cold and windy some days, and I've been busy on others. No hurry,
though - Samhain soon, and the beginning of Celtic winter.
Not much progress in the garden - there are lots of scarlet runner beans which aren't getting ripe because it's not warm enough. I was hoping for fresh seed for next year, but only have a little so far. At least I have a lot from past years which should still be viable. A lot of fallen and falling leaves, except for the stubborn elms and the oak tree in front which are still green. I need to bring the geraniums indoors tomorrow, since I'll be busy Saturday running some Zoom sessions and we may have a first frost that night. We're getting closer and closer to Winter.
In the outside world, autumn is progressing, with a lot of rain earlier in the week and a lot of falling leaves. No frost so far, although I had 36 F at dawn yesterday. I need to do some yard work later today and tomorrow. And it will be time to move the geraniums indoors for the winter before long...
My next book will be Mac Criomthann Tales III, which shouldn't take long - I'll be editing the new stories a bit to take out the narrator parts. I might have that one out by January 1st. Then I'll move on to Taliesin: King Arthur's Bard, which will cover Taliesin's early life before Gwernin meets him. Farther down the road after that is the last Gwernin trilogy, called "The Fall of the North". The individual book titles are The Last True King, Three Hundred Spears, and The Fall of the North. There will be some heavy going in all three of those books. And yes, I've had them planned for several years, even if not in detail. After that - well, that is a story for another day!
The leaves of the ash tree outside my window have turned gold and are falling. Still no frost, but it can't be long. I hope it holds off a couple more weeks so my scarlet runner beans can mature - there are a lot of them that set last month after the Japanese beetles were no longer eating the flowers! Four weeks now to Samhain, and winter.
In other news, it finally rained Sunday and Monday - over 2 inches, which was badly needed. The garden is nearly done for the year - the only tomatoes still struggling on are the sweet 100s. No frost yet, but 40 deg F this morning. Time to start yard cleanup.The leaves on the ash tree outside my window are turning gold. Autumn is definitely here.
We actually had rain along with cool weather the last two nights. This is good because I don't have to water the garden, although I may have to mow the grass in some places before long. Such tomatoes as are left are no longer getting ripe, so no worries there. I think the raccoons have given up and moved on to someplace with better foraging. Autumn is truly here.
We're still having warm or occasionally hot weather - 80s and sometimes 90s. It's ironic that we look like having a late first frost when my tomatoes have mostly quit producing. Still, there's always more yard work to do, and at least I'm now getting more beans since the Japanese beetles are no longer eating the flowers.
I've been doing a lot of yard work the last week, partly because the city inspector came by and left me a notice about tall weeds. This has happened before, and I think I've got on his "naughty list", but it's stuff that needed doing anyway now that the weather has cooled down a bit. At least no more raccoon damage, but there are no more tomatoes for them now. Also the Japanese beetles have mostly disappeared except for a few on the remaining (highly shredded) Virginia Creeper. A gardener's work is never done - I'm looking forward to winter.
We've now had a week of cool damp weather, and it's wonderful! I've harvested all the ripe and almost-ripe tomatoes because of the raccoon incursions last weekend, and will be canning a lot of them tomorrow. Other than that, I'm just enjoying the early autumn weather, and will be starting some yard cleanup.
The seasons are changing...
Last weekend the raccoons finally discovered my tomatoes. After losing some two nights in a row, I picked all the ripe and almost-ripe ones. The raccoons came one more night and caused a certain amount of damage, possibly out of frustration. I've now had three raccoon-free nights, and hope that they've found someone else's garden to pillage. Also after a week of mostly very hot weather, we should get a break starting tomorrow. On the whole, things are looking up.
The intermittent very hot days (upper 90s) have not helped the gardening, although the beans seem to like it. Of the eight tomato plants I started with, three have died, all large fruit types, but the sweet 100s, romas, and purple topped ones are now being very productive, and I am finally getting the occasional zucchini. I haven't had appreciable rain since early June, which is a bit unusual - there are thunderstorms from time to time, but they go around me. At least we're almost halfway through August.
This week has been dry and very hot, but things should at least cool off some starting Saturday. I'm still running a sprinkler in the back most evenings, which helps some. The garden is mostly doing well - lots of purple podded beans and sweet 100 tomatoes. The romas and the basil are also thriving, and the zucchinis may finally produce a couple of zuchs. I've had some nocturnal raccoon visits, but no appreciable damage so far - I think they come partly for water from the bird bath and an easy path from the alley to the street since I don't have privacy fences like everyone else in the block.
After last weekend's upper 90s, the mid to lower 80s of the last few days are a welcome break. It did take a couple of days to get the house cooled down, and it won't last, but it's wonderful right now. The beans are doing great and setting beans, most of the tomatoes (but not all) are doing well, and the basil is happy. With August starting tomorrow, we're at the end of the Celtic summer, but not alas the Colorado one.
We badly need some rain, but the beans, tomatoes, etc are doing well. I've been running a sprinkler in the back in the evening some days, but at least such grass as is left in the front isn't growing and therefore doesn't need to be mowed. Lots of birds in the back most of the time -- yesterday the 4 flickers and sometimes 5 or 6 bluejays were here at once. The flicker family is out there now going to it on the suet cake!
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Gardening is going well, despite Japanese beetles on some of the bean leaves. At least slug damage is now minimal. The tomatoes are mostly setting heavily, so I should have ripe ones before long. And one zucchini plant finally set a zucchini! The fact that we're not getting much rain at least means I don't have to mow, although there is always more yard work.
Gardening is going OK, although now that slugs are less of a problem for the beans, the Japanese beetles have arrived. At least they don't go for the tomato plants to any great extent. All of them are setting tomatoes now, so a lot of them should be getting ripe by the end of the month. If I have an oversupply, I'll freeze some - it will probably still be too hot for canning.
I'm still grinding my way through chapter 28 - the hot weather hasn't helped. I've got most of it laid out but need to go through and edit it - I had enough interruptions that it doesn't all flow well. I also need to set up something that comes in chapter 29, which takes Gwernin et al back to Bru na Boine. I'm hoping to get through chapter 30 (The Well of Wisdom) by Lughnasadh; then there's only Gwernin's homecoming in 31.
Pretty warm weather here - mid to upper 90s some days, but no thunderstorms or indeed other rain. As long as it's dry I don't have to mow in front, which is good because the sweet peas have taken over on the south side of the house. If I need to do anything, I can use the weed whacker.
The hot weather hasn't hurt the tomatoes et al, I just had to run sprinklers three days as well as the morning watering round. Three of them have little tomatoes which are getting ripe, but these are ones that had already set on some of the tomatoes before I got them. The zucchinis are blooming, but it would help if they could have male and female flowers at the same time. I continue my morning battle with the bean-eating slugs. And I found the first Japanese beetle on the last pink rose. They'll be on the repeat blooming David Austin roses soon. Summer in the garden...
We're getting a hot weekend for Midsummer - expected highs around 100 F. I'll be up around sunrise every morning for slug patrol and a watering round, followed later in the day by sprinklers. Happily things should be better for a while after Sunday. The zucchinis are blooming - male flowers today, but they'll be setting soon - and the tomato plants are doing well. I usually start getting ripe tomatoes by late July, and hope to have enough to can some this year.
Last weekend was pretty warm - T shirt and shorts weather for the first time this year - but since then it's been cool again, with thunderstorms or at least showers almost every evening. The vegetation loves it, but Ruay cat is less impressed. It does give me an excuse to do more writing and less yard work!
😀
