It was a somewhat "cool" weekend for a change, but by cool we mean 80's instead of 90's. But lows were in the 60's so the first part of the day was nice and there was a cool breeze during the afternoon.
Some of the lantana is bouncing back from the water overload and the butterflies and bees are enjoying it.
This is our porch spider, the one that was near the wasp nest. The wasp nest is now abandoned. I guess the mutual living arrangements were only temporary. We have named her "Charlotte" and in honor of that, I turned her photo into a storybook drawing (click to enlarge, it looks kind of cool).
The garden hasn't been touched in two weeks (three?) because of the weather, so if we're going to plant some Fall vegetables, it was time to clean it up.
This is the herb bed. Yep, Audrey the basil in the middle was about 3 inches high when planted. Not sure what we did but she liked us and we enjoyed fresh basil (and the other herbs underneath all that, ha) until it was time to let her go.
I started by pulling everything up, weeding, removing the straw mulch and tilling in new soil and compost.
This is the same raised bed after.
Here is the last of the Summer harvest. As I pulled up the plants, I plucked off these. Not sure how we managed to keep having eggplant (and these are a bit small) but we'll eat them anyway!
 |
| Raised bed garden |
Here it is!
After several hours of hard work, this is what it looked like! All beds are empty, soil turned, new soil and compost added, weeds pulled and it's all ready to go. Let the Fall planning begin!
We also might have some Satsuma oranges soon. They are small but already getting some faint color on them. The normal harvest date is October into December. We'll see what happens.
When we got back into town, 2nd Man made pan roasted chicken with broccolini and mushrooms sautéed in butter. Sigh. It was so good.
Now we just need more cool weather but the forecast for this week is low 90's. Things returning to normal, hope you all had a great weekend.
You have been a busy guy getting all your beds all cleaned and ready to go. Won't be long, if not soon to be planting your Fall plants. Also a good time to plant bulbs for the Spring as well.
ReplyDeleteThe meal looks delicious.
Was going to mention; save that bacon grease and saute your veggies right in your bacon grease.
I have flower beds yet to make as I need to dig up my cannas and get them transplanted
Flags flown at 1/2 staff today
DeleteI really need to get some cannas at the farm. They DO seem to make it in our soil. I should just plant clumps around in various spots and let it multiply. Are they hard to control once they get growing?
DeleteOh and. yes we have a container of bacon grease in the fridge, "ready" to go, ha.
And yes, it's sobering to see flags at half staff today. That reminds me, I need to get on the flagpole project once I have the Fall garden in.
It is not going to get out of 60s today! That is too cool! It is usually in 90s this time of year.
ReplyDeleteWhat photo program do you use? I salvaged some company pictures I took of our players running on the baseball field by using the cartoon setting. The people were blurry, but they at least had outlines with the cartoon setting.
60's? Wow. I can't wait for that here. It's a program I found online by googling 'cartoonize photos'. Ha. I'll have to see if I can find it again.
Deletewow..your garden was great this summer. can't wait to see how it does for fall. we've been having the best fall weather but erma is coming in and we are going to get warm and humid...yuck! i made stuffed eggplant today and will post the recipe tomorrow in case you want to use some of yours the same way.
ReplyDeleteIt really was, albeit small and of limited selection, ha. Stuffed eggplant? Yummy, I'll watch for the post!!! Thank you!!!
DeleteYou have been busy.
ReplyDeleteLove Charlotte's portrait. And your bounty.
Thank you! It was work but I make the most of the time there. Someday when I'm there full time, no telling what I can accomplish, ha.
DeleteThat is a beautiful picture of the butterfly on your pink lantana - so pretty.
ReplyDeleteI love your “Charlotte” spider and your storybook drawing of her. And how appropriate to have “Charlotte” at Seda Bolsa Farm. Are there any Wilburs in the area?
I did not realize that eggplant was so heat tolerant. Nice harvest from the last of your spring-summer garden.
Great job on your garden clean-up. Now you’re all ready for a Fall garden.
And another delicious supper from 2nd Man!
No Wilburs that I've seen but time will tell, ha. I'm not sure how that eggplant made it but it did. Now this is Japanese eggplant, the smaller, longer ones so maybe it's that variety? Our TAM jalapeños were prolific but small this year. Maybe not enough water. They are tasty though!
DeleteI love empty, well weeded beds, sparse but beautiful. We are now slowly clearing our beds, should be emoty about the end of October, depending on the weather. That then is the end of our growing season.
ReplyDeleteThey show such potential don't they? I love just staring at them imagining what could be, ha. End of your growing season? I bet you make the most of it!!!
DeleteSorry I missed this yesterday. Glad you got some clean-up done at the farm. Lantana might be my favorite garden plant just because it is so resilient.
ReplyDeleteWhat fall crops are you planting?
Hey there! No worries. Lantana does well here, I'm going to definitely get some more this Fall on clearance and some more for next Spring. Haven't decided on vegetables yet but narrowing it down. We're still so warm here, most of what we want to plant we need to wait for the cooler weather.
Delete