It is the end of another gardening season.  This was a very dry summer, and I found that I had to do a lot of watering because my flowers and shrubs were wilting.  I found that a lot of "crops" struggled this year and didn't do so well:  cucumbers, squash, and watermelon, for instance.  My pumpkins, on the other hand, turned orange in August and started rotting.  In the end, I was able to collect lots of eggplant, kale, peppers, green beans (which came really late this year!) and one lovely watermelon.

 

The rain and cooler temperatures are finally here, and at this point the only thing I am gathering in is my beloved dahlias.  This huge raspberry-colored dahlia finally bloomed this week.  I thought for sure the frost would come first.  This is a new dahlia for me, "Raspberry Punch", so I'm glad I get to see what the blooms look like.

 

I work full-time now - the first 40hr./week job I have held since my student teaching days, and before that, 1990!  I am not teaching, however, and I'm going to miss my summer days spent in the garden.  It's going to be much harder to grow all the things I've been growing throughout the years.  However, where there's a will - there's a way!

 

By September, I'm usually ready to put the garden to rest.  I, like many gardeners I know, give up on the weeds by mid-July and just focus my attention on harvesting and preserving the bounty!  The only thing I preserved this season was herbs - lots of them!  I grew lots of chamomile for tea and dried it out.  My son and I are now enjoying lots of home-grown tea!

 

At this point, I am trying to get out for a few hours a week to clean up and feed some plants.  This weekend is supposed to be a beautiful one - warm and sunny, with temperatures near 70!  I love walking out to the beds and seeing the startled birds take flight.  I love that they love to hang out there.  The rabbits that slept in my perennial garden this summer seem long-gone.  The frost is soon-coming, and they know it!