Fall Garden Images

(Click on any photo to see a larger image.)

Tomatoes waiting to ripen

Cucumber is still producing.

September draws to a close and there is a noticeable -- and welcome -- coolness in the air. Although my daily garden routine has relaxed quite a bit from the manic days of summer's full heat, my garden is still in putting on quite a show, much to my surprise. There are over a dozen large tomatoes waiting to ripen on the vine. My cucumber plant, which I had written off as exhausted a couple of weeks ago, still

This is what broccoli flowers look like.

surprises me with more delicious fruit. And in a fit of self-education, I have allowed some of my vegetables to bloom rather than pick

Sedum 

them at their edible peak, just so I can see what the flowers look like. Have you ever seen a carrot blossom? They are beautiful lacy heads that look very similar to Queen's Anne's Lace. And broccoli flowers look like little buttercups.

Bee on a brilliantly colored marigold.

In a few short weeks my shipment of garlic will arrive for fall planting. Fall is

Carrot Blossom

the best time to plant garlic for a great summer harvest and this year I decided to give it a try. I love garlic in my food and I'm anxious to try cooking and eating my own garlic, as much for the taste as for the satisfaction of having grown my own food. One planting season is not quite done and I'm already getting started on the next. So I'm being proactive. Or else I'm being compulsive. Or perhaps I'm being compulsively proactive. Unless I'm just plain nuts. There is more than a good chance that's the case.

Carrot blossom viewed from back.

I was pleased to see lots of bees still hard at work harvesting nectar for their winter honey but dismayed that there were more whiteflies and mosquitoes in my garden than I have ever seen before. Thankfully the season is drawing to a close in another month or so and I won't have to deal with those little peskies until next year. Which, now that I think about it, is only three months away. That means the holidays are almost upon us. I'm tired already just thinking about it.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva