I saved seeds for the Rudbeckias I liked the best. During the summer, I tied a cloth strip around the stems of my favorites, to mark them.
The seed heads go into paper bags. I'll let them dry a couple of months, then clean up the seeds. I also saved seeds from French Marigolds. These are my own multigenerational saved seeds.
I cut open one of the Buttercup squashes.
Today I canned salsa. I used almost all of the remaining sauce tomatoes, all of the banana peppers, and some of the JalapeƱos.
I used the USDA Canning Book recipe. It made an extra pint, so that goes into the fridge. These came out a bit too salty, because I halved the recipe and forgot to halve the salt. Still quite good and fresh tasting.
Still getting some nice harvests in October.
I made a tomato pie with some of the big tomatoes. The peppers will go for hot sauce and salsa. The Romas will go into some canned salsa. Im not convinced the apples are that good this year. Might make a pie and try to pick out the best ones to grow.
This is tne miniature peach tree that I sheltered from rains last winter. Nice peaches now!
I harvested enough to can a batch.
Then I made a batch of peach jam, too.
I was picking apples and forgot that yellow jackets infest any on the ground.
One stung over my right eye. The other on my neck. I hope no one was watching while I ran away from the apple tree. The swelling should improve in a few days,
I moved the squashes off the lawn and onto the deck where they can cure without getting wet. I also harvested the Costata romanesca squashes - the oblong big green ones. Based on year's result, they keep almost a year in a cool dry space.
I've started saving seeds of the tomato varieties that I like the most. They need to ferment a few days before drying out. These are "Ukraine Purple". I also saved from "Dwarf Golden Champion" and have a few others to save as well. Today I added "Dwarf Clare Valley Red", which is really good, big, productive.
After these ferment a few days, I rinse the seeds and lay them on a paper towel to dry out. Then they go into envelopes to store for next year.
Each day, I dig a few more plants of the late season potato variety "Elba". This is a nice producing, disease resistant variety with good flavor. It's a great time to harvest. The soil is dry, so light weight and crumbly.
These make great air fryer fries.
Now the green beans that replaced, garlic and potato beds, are starting to come into their own
Now I know I can double crop those beds.
I've been out of commission in the garden. Today I was able to get a nice harvest.
The squashes are Galeux d'Eysine and Burgess Buttercup.
One of my favorite places in the world. This was the village of Oceanside. Two days of absolute peace.
With lots of heirloom-type dwarf tomatoes, I made a tomato pie. Here is the recipe.
Here is a slice.
This was a lot of work. It was also very good.
Morning glories.
Brugmansia. The first blossom.
That Thunbergia again.
Rose, "Tropical Lightening"
Most of the dwarf tomatoes are producing like crazy now. They make similar amounts and they are all good, with heirloom tomato flavors. The Romas made enough too, for another batch of tomato sauce.
I cut some flower heads from the Black Seeded Simpson lettuce plants that I let bolt.
It's easy. Just cut the scruffy looking flower heads. Store them in an open paper bag until winter. Then they will be fully dried out and ready to clean up.
I used the Roma tomatoes to make seven packets of frozen tomato sauce. I also made some pasta sauce for supper.
The Roma tomato plants have about three times as many green tomatoes. Maybe more. So there will be more sauce ahead.
The sad looking little Brugmansia has grown a lot. It is pushing flower buds now. I think it outgrew the container, so I repotted into one with twice the volume.
The black plastic container absorbs heat from the sun and heats the soil too much. In the past I found that a shiny foil cover reduced the soil temp by 10 or 15 degrees F, so I did that today.
I canned the first batch of Asian pears. Followed USDA canning book recipe, light syrup. They came out very good.
Here are the tomatoes I harvested today. Plus some peppers and onions.
I'm cooking the sauce tomatoes now to make frozen tomato sauce. I also added a few of the firmer other ones.
These are from dwarf varieties. They are just starting to ripen. The pink ones are Livingston Dwarf Champion. The red one is Livingston Dwarf Stone. There should be many more of the other ones soon.
The star quilt was nearly done. I completed cut the batting, and pinned it all together. This time I wanted to be extra precise with the stitching, so I marked the first row with blue tailor's chalk. I sewed the first line.
Still, something was nagging at me. They say you should test a sample and see if the chalk line washes out. I thought, it's tailor's chalk. That's what it's made for.
Guess what. The blue color didn't wash out. I washed twice. Still didn't wash out.
It's faint, but I will always see it. I used a brush to remove what I could. It didn't stay on the dark blue areas, which are slicker, or the dark grey areas. All of the white areas on two corner patches were stained.
So, I removed all if the line of stitching. I removed the two corners of white fabric that were stained. Now Im removing the large patchwork blocks that need to be either replaced or taken apart and just the stained parts replaced. If I have enough fabric scraps (maybe), I'll replace the entire blocks. Easier than taking them apart. If not, I'll just replace stained peices.
This four o'clock comes back every year. It never gets winter protection or watering. It started blooming a few weeks later than the others, but will bloom all through fall. nIt's much larger than the first year plants.
