Winter, weekends, and ...

It was another harvest weekend. This time we threw some plums in as well. Lots of tomatoes are ready and about to be ready, so we are freezing the large ones to make some tomato jam and sauce and paste and sun drying the cherry tomatoes.
We are fortunate enough to have lots of neighbors, so we were able to give away a lot of the plums. They seem to all get ripe at the same time, and then if you don't pick them they fall and rot and the bees come to feast and sting.

It was also time to change out the window boxes. We had some diathus for a long time, but they were well beyond their prime, so we bought hardy mums to brighten up the windows. I know that the standard colors for this time of year are the oranges and reds of fall, but I planted yellow - a summer color. This is because it took a long time for summer to get here, and now that it is I am going to try and coax it into staying extra long. This is my protest I could put up signs and banners, but instead, I'll just plant yellow mums. 

Also, a little late I know, I did our winter planting. The corn was in the far bed, but as it was done, we dug that up and planted our winter carrots. I will cover them with straw when we get to freezing temps. The pots up close on the left are filled with bulbs (tulip and allium). I read an interesting article about having bulbs in pots so that they are easier to move and separate and replant, etc. so I am going to try it out. We'll have around 7 pots of bulbs ready for spring, then probably seed them with annuals when they are done blooming.

This is the back planter. I dug up the right side Sunday and planted things there as well. Right now there are endives, a winter hardy lettuce (one leaf, one head) Spinach, Mache, and one more, but my brain doesn't work all that well so I can't remember what it is. This will get covered with my lid as soon as the temps start to fall. (the dogs love fresh dirt, so the shock collar keeps beeping and they know from experience that that is a bad sound and stay away. that makes both of us happy!)

Just some fall blooms!